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PRINCETON,    N.    J. 


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SAc'//. 


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BS  651  .B62  1878 
Boardman,  George  Dana,  1828J 
1903.  ^ 

Studies  in  the  creative  wee] 


STUDIES 


CEEATIVE   WEEK. 


GEORGE  D.  BOARDMAN, 


"  By  Him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth, 
visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities, 
or  powers :  all  things  were  created  by  Him,  and  for  Him :  and  He  is  before  all 
things,  and  by  Ilim  all  things  consist." — Colossians  i.  16,  17. 


NEW    YORK : 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

549  AND  551  BROADWAY. 

1878. 


COPTEIGHT  BY 

OEOEGE  DANA  BOAKDMAN, 

1878. 


MY      WIFE 

"WHOSE   POETIC   INSIGHT   INTO    THE   MEANING   OF   NATURE 

HAS     BEEN     MY     INSPIRATION, 

THESE  STUDIES   APvE   LOVINGLY    OFFEKED. 


G.  D.  B. 


PREFACE. 


At  the  very  outset,  the  author  is  emphatic  in  his  wish 
that  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  this  little  volume  does 
not  claim  to  be  a  scientific  treatise,  or  even  an  attempt  to 
"  reconcile  the  Mosaic  Record  with  the  teachings  of  Mod- 
ern Science."  His  main  object,  as  set  forth  at  length  in 
his  Introductory  Lecture,  has  been  to  unfold  the  Moral 
Meaning  which,  he  believes,  is  Divinely  infolded  in  the 
Creation  Archive.  This  object  he  has  kept  steadfastly 
and  supremely  in  view :  and  if,  in  prosecuting  it,  he  may 
have  dispelled  some  of  the  seeming  incongruities  between 
Science  and  Kevelation,  it  has  been  only  incidentally,  on 
liis  way  to  a  diviner  Goal. 

The  wi-iter  will  be  j)ardoned  for  giving  some  account 
of  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  production  of  this 
volume.  The  Lectures  were  originallv  delivered  as  ser- 
mons  on  Sunday  evenings,  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
pulpit  ministi-ation.  During  the  com-se  of  their  de- 
livery, eminent  citizens,  representing  various  branches  of 
the  Church,  and  various  professions,  requested  their  repe- 
tition before  the  pubKc  at  large.  Accordingly,  the  Lect- 
ures, having  been  reconstructed,  were  delivered  on  four- 
teen consecutive  Tuesday  noons,   beginning  January  S, 


6  PREFACE. 

1878,  in  one  of  the  halls  of  Pliiladelj^hia.  The  Avriter 
has  given  this  explanation  in  order  to  account  for  the 
oratorical  freedom  of  the  style,  which,  inexcusable  in  an 
elaborate  monograph,  may  be  pardoned  in  an  oral  lecture. 

And  now  the  author,  in  sending  forth  this  little  work, 
which  he  does  most  diffidently,  ventures  to  adopt  as  his 
own,  nonpassibus  cequis, "  The  "Writer's  Prayer,"  as  framed 
by  Francis  Bacon  : 

"  Thou,  0  leather  /  Who  gavest  the  Visible  Light  as  the 
first-horn  of  Thy  creatures,  and  didst  pour  into  Man  the 
Intellectual  Light  as  tlCQ  top  and  consummation  of  Thy 
worTcmanship,  he  pleased  to  protect  and  govern  this  worh, 
which,  coming  from  Thy  Goodness,  returneth  to  Thy  Glory. 
Thou,  after  Thou  hadst  revieioed  the  works  which  Thy 
hands  had  made,  heheldest  that  everything  was  good :  and 
Thou  didst  rest  with  complacency  in  them.  But  Man, 
reflecting  on  the  works  which  he  had  made,  saw  that  all 
was  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  and  could  hy  no  means 
acquiesce  in  them.  Wherefore,  if  we  labor  in  Thy  worTcs 
with  the  sweat  of  our  hrows.  Thou  wilt  make  us  partakers 
of  Thy  Vision  and  Thy  Sahhath.  We  humhly  heg  that 
this  mind  may  he  steadfastly  in  us,  and  that  Thou,  hy  our 
hands  and  also  hy  the  hands  of  others  on  whom  Thou 
shalt  hestow  the  same  spirit,  wilt  please  to  convey  a  la/rge- 
ness  of  new  alms  to  Thy  family  of  Mankind.  These 
things  we  commend  to  Thy  everlasting  love,  hy  our  Jesus, 
Thy  Christ:  God  with  us.     AmenP 

G.  D.  B. 

PniLADELPiiiA,  April  20,  1878. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTtTRE  PAGE 

I. — Introductory      .  .  .  .  .  .       •   .        9 

II. — Genesis  of  the  Universe     .....  32 

III. — Genesis  of  Order  .  .  .  .  .  .47 

IV. — Genesis  of  Light      ......  65 

V. — Genesis  op  the  Sky       .  .  .  .  .  .83 

VI. — Genesis  of  the  Lands  .  .  .  .  .100 

VII. — Genesis  of  the  Plants  .  .  .  .  .119 

VIII. — Genesis  of  the  Luminaries  .  .  .  .138 

IX. — Genesis  of  the  Animals  .....     156 

X. — Genesis  of  Man        .  .  .  .  .  .176 

XI. — Genesis  of  Eden  .  .  .  .  .  .199 

XII.— Genesis  of  Woman   ......  222 

XIII. — Genesis  of  the  Sabbath  .....     245 

XIV.— Palingenesis  ......  273 

Appendix  .   '         .  .  .  .  .  •     S03 


STUDIES  1^   THE   CEEATIYE  WEEK. 


LECTURE  I. 

INTKODUCTORY — REASONS   FOR   THESE    STUDIES. 

Inaugurating,  as  we  now  do,  a  series  of  Studies  in  the 
Creative  Week,  it  is  proper,  first  of  all,  to  show  cause  for 
such  a  procedure. 

Our  first  reason  is  this :  the  Anti- 
I.-Antiquity  of       ..    ^^  ^^^  Creation  Record.    Observe : 
the    Creation    Ar-     ,,,  "^      ,         n    i    ,i       ,.  n*-       •     -r-,  •,•,■, 

1 .  altliouo;h  called  the  "  Mosaic  Kecord, 

cluves.  '^         ,  ' 

I  do  not  affirm  that  Moses  was  the  au- 
thor of  it.  There  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  that  it 
is  far  older  than  the  Lawgiver  himself,  having  been  be- 
queathed to  him  as  one  of  the  sacred,  already  hoary. 
Traditions  of  the  Past. 

1  —Oridn  of  the  And  here  let  me  turn  aside  for  a  mo- 
Prehistoric  Tradi-  mcnt  to  speak  of  the  possible  origin  of 
tions-  the  wide-spread  traditions  touching  the 

early  history  of  the  world.  For  it  is  an  unquestioned  fact, 
as  remarkable  as  unquestioned,  that,  from  time  immemorial, 
and  among  many  and  widely-scattered  nations— e.  g.,  the 
Chaldeans,  the  Phoenicians,  the  Eg}"ptians,  the  Persians,  the 
Indians,  the  Chinese,  the  Karens,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans, 


10  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

the  Celts,  the  Scandinavians,  the  Finlanders,  the  Peruvians, 
the  Aztecs,  the  Algonquins,  etc. — there  were  traditions  of 
a  Primitive  Chaos,  an  Original  Pair,  a  Paradisal  Age,  a 
Tree  of  Life,  a  Sequent,  a  Fall,  an  Expulsion,  a  Deluge, 
a  Dispersion.  Where  did  these  traditions,  so  singular  in 
themselves,  and  yet  so  common  to  so  many  and  so  widely- 
scattered  peoples,  have  their  origin  ?  'No  one  but  a  vi- 
sionary would  venture  to  affirm  that  they  were  the  result 
of  accident.  Whence,  then,  did  these  remarkable  tradi- 
tions rise  ?  Let  us  take  a  single  chronological  datum, 
viz.,  the  Dispersion  of  the  Nations,  and  see  if  it  does  not 
suggest  the  answer.  Assuming  that  the  ages  given  us  in 
the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  are  the  ages  of  individuals  and 
not  of  dynasties,  Methuselah  was,  according  to  the  chro- 
nology of  tlie  Hebrew  text,  contemporary  with  Adam 
some  two  hundred  and  forty-three  years,  and  also  with 
Shem  some  ninety-eight  years ;  so  that  Adam  could  have 
told  the  story  of  Eden  to  Methuselah,  and  Methuselah  to 
Shem.  Again :  according  to  the  Scriptural  account  (Gen. 
X.,  xi.) — and  this  account  is  strikingly  confirmed  by  the  re- 
searches of  ethnologists — Shem  and  his  two  brothel's  were 
the  progenitors  of  the  three  great  Races  into  which 
Noah's  family  was  divided  at  the  time  of  the  Confusion 
of  Tongues  in  the  Plain  of  Shinar,  and  the  consequent 
Dispersion  of  the  Nations ;  and  Shem  himself  survived 
the  Dispersion  some  two  hundred  and  eighty  years.  More- 
over, Shem  was  contemporary  with  Isaac,  and  Isaac  with 
Judah,  and  eludah  with  Ezrom,  and  Ezrom  with  Moses. 
Recall  now  the  exceeding  value  which  must  have  been 
asci-ibed  to  tradition  in  that  primeval  age,  when  there  was 
neither  printing-press  nor  alphabet,  and  when  the  only 
knowledge  of  the  past  possible  was  that  which  was  trans- 
mitted from  sire  to  son  by  word  of  mouth.     Remember, 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.  H 

also,  that  in  tliat  age  of  extreme  longevity  such  tradi- 
tions wonld  proljably  be  preserved  in  great  pnrity,  since 
the  Patriarchs,  though  descended  one  from  another,  were 
nevertheless  contemporaries  of  each  other  for  centuries, 
and  so  could  and  would  correct  any  deviation  from  the 
original  Tradition.  Remember,  also,  the  thrilling  char- 
acter of  these  Traditions  themselves.  What  tales  more 
wondrous  than  those  of  a  lost  Paradise,  with  its  innocent, 
blissful  Pair ;  its  Tree  of  Life,  and  its  Tree  of  Death ;  its 
eloquent,  baleful  Serpent ;  its  Cherubim  and  Flaming 
Sword  ?  How  often  must  Adam,  during  the  nine  hundred 
and  thirty  years  of  his  life,  have  conversed  with  his  chil- 
dren and  his  children's  children,  down  to  the  seventh  and 
eighth  generations,  about  those  memorable  scenes  of  which 
he  himself  had  been  a  witness  and  a  sharer  in  Paradise ! 
And  after  he  had  died,  how  often  must  Shem,  Ham,  and 
Japheth — ^born  a  century  before  the  Flood,  and  also  con- 
temporary with  the  great-great-great-grandfather  of  Moses 
■ — have  conversed  with  Methuselah,  who  himself  had  been 
contemporary  with  Adam  !  No  wonder,  then,  that  when 
the  three  sons  of  Noah,  with  their  families,  went  forth 
from  the  Tower  of  Babel  to  be  scattered  over  all  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  to  become  the  founders  of  all  subsequent 
nationalities,  they  carried  with  them,  and  transmitted  to 
their  descendants,  traditions  of  the  Creation  and  Fall : 
traditions  which,  thougli  in  the  first  instance  full  and  ear- 
nest, became,  in  process  of  time,  dim  and  debased  with 
legends  of  heathen  poetry  and  mythology  ;  their  similari- 
ties on  the  one  hand,  and  tlieir  divergences  on  the  otlier, 
alike  testifying  to  the  common  origin  of  Man  in  Eden,  and 
to  the  dispersion  of  Man  at  Babel.  Thus  heathenism  itself 
brings  tribute  to  Revelation.  All  history,  sacred  and  secu- 
lar, starts  in  and  from  Eden. 


13  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

2.-Mosaic  Ineor-  ^^^  I  ^f  speaking  of  tlic  aiitlior- 
porations  of  the  Crea-  sliip  of  the  first  two  chapters  of  Gene- 
tion  Traditions.  gig^  or  the  Creation  Record.     For  aught 

I  know,  it  was  to  Adam  hiinseK,  while  yet  in  Eden,  fresh 
from  the  hands  of  his  Creator,  that  God  unrolled  the  pan- 
orama of  His  Creation.  And  Adam  could  have  talked 
with  Methuselah,  and  Methuselah  with  Shem,  and  Shem 
Avith  Isaac,  and  Isaac  with  the  great-grandfather  of  Moses. 
As  Matthew  and  Luke  incorporated  the  genealogies  of 
Jesus  the  Christ,  j)i'obablj  taken  from  the  ofiicial  regis- 
tries, into  their  memories  of  Him,  and  thereby  made  them 
a  part  of  their  o\^^l  story,  so  there  is  immense  reason  for 
believing  Moses  incoi'porated  into  the  five  books  which 
bear  his  name  the  primeval  ti-adition  of  Creation,  and 
thereby  made  it  his  own  document :  thus  literally  giving 
us  a  magnificent  specimen  of  Mosaic  work.  As  such,  the 
Creation  Archives  far  outrank  in  venerableness  the  famous 
papyrus  rolls  of  Egypt,  the  Yedic  hymns  of  India,  the 
Zend-a vesta  of  Persia ;  being,  beyond  all  conij^arison,  the 
most  ancient  specimen  of  human  literature. 

This,  then,  is  our  first  reason  for  studying  the  story  of 
the  Creative  Week :  it  is  the  most  venerable  relic  of  hu- 
man time. 

But  there  is  a  second  and  stronger 

II. — Maiesty    of  -o^  •    ^i     nr   •     ^       c  ^i      o   i  •     j_ 

tl  >s  b'    tM  tt^     reason  :  it  is  the  Majesty  ot  the  bubject 
u  jec      a    cr.    ^j,^^^^^ 

.     ,  ^  .  To  go  back  to  tlic  oricjin  or  source 

Genesis  of  Tilings.      j.    ■,  .  .         ,      ,. 

01  things,  tracing  the  first  steps  or  what- 
ever has  issued  in  greatness,  whether  material,  intellectual, 
social,  or  moral,  this  is  one  of  the  instinctive  impulses  of 
our  nature,  especially  of  all  noblest  minds.  IIow  fascinat- 
ing to  the  thoughtful  man  the  problems  of  the  origin  of 
universal^  abiding  customs  ;  of  vast  and  permanent  iustitu- 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.  13 

tions  ;  of  great  national  movements,  whether  migratory 
in  space,  or  revohitionary  in  morals  ;  of  pohtical  constitu- 
tions ;  of  languages ;  of  philosophies,  secular  and  religious ; 
of  force,  of  life,  of  matter  ! 

Felix  qui  potuit  rerum  cognoscere  causas. — (Geoegica,  Liber  ii.  490.) 

And  the  first  two  chapters  of  Genesis  carry  us  back  to 
the  origin  of  things.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  "  (Gen.  l.  i).  Well*may  the  first  book 
of  the  Bible  be  called  the  Book  of  Genesis  ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  book  of  generations,  births,  beginnings,  origins.  Thus 
the  first  and  second  chapters  give  us  the  genesis  of  the 
universe  ;  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  the  genesis  of  sin  ; 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  the  genesis  of  the  nations 
— to  this  day  an  authority  among  ethnologists  ;  the  tweKth 
chapter  the  genesis  of  the  Abrahamic  people.  It  is,  in- 
deed, the  Book  of  Origins.  But  we  are  to  confine  our- 
selves to  tlie  Genesis  of  the  Universe,  as  set  forth  in  its 
first"  two  chapters.  And  a  magnificent  theme  it  is.  How 
grandly  grow  before  us,  tier  on  tier,  the  outlines  of  Na- 
ture's Cathedral :  its  colossal  foundations  of  solid  matter 
emerging  from  the  abyss  of  infinite  space  ;  its  gathering 
medley  of  gigantic  blocks  quarried  from  clmos  ;  its  group- 
ing materials  and  rising  derricks ;  its  scintillations  at  the 
strokes  of  celestial  chisels  ;  its  "  most  excellent  canopy  "  of 
the  "  brave  o'erhanging  firmament ; "  its  massive  buttresses 
of  the  lands,  and  towering  arches  of  the  mountains  ;  its 
foliated  capitals  and  pendants  and  mouldings  and  panels 
of  vegetation ;  its  "  majestical  roof  fretted  with  golden 
fire  ; "  its  gargoyles  of  griffins,  and  sentinels  of  cherubim  ; 
its  choir  of  humankind  ;  its  bell-toll  of  Time's  first  Sab- 
bath! No  wonder  that  when  its  comej-stone  was  laid, 
the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 


14  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

shouted  for  joy  (Job  xxxviii.  6,  V) ;  or  tliat  when  its  headstone 
was  brought  forth,  it  was  with  shoutings  of  Grace — grace 

unto  it  (Zech.  iv.  7). 

This,  then,  is  our  second  reason  for  studying  the  story 

of  the  Creative  Week — the  Majesty  of  the  Theme. 

But  there  is  a  third  reason  for  this 
III. — Chief  Point     ,     -,  .  n  .•         .    . 

. , ,  ,       .       ,,    study  :  a  reason  especially  pertinent  to 
of  Modern  Assault.  "^    .  ^  -^  ^ 

these  times,  because  born  of  them  ;  this 
story  of  the  Creative  Week  is  in  many  respects  the  cliief 
point  of  Modern  Assault. 

And  the  assault  comes  in  the  main 

1. — Science       and    n  ,■,  •      j.*x!  u         tx     • 

„     , ,.  from    the    scientmc  world,      it    is    a 

Ecvelation. 

proper  point,  then,  to  aiTCst  our  steps 
for  a  few  moments,  and  glance  at  the  relations  of  Nature 
and  Scripture,  or  rather  of  Science  and  Kevelation.  Of 
course,  I  can  discuss  the  matter  in  only  a  cursory  way,  out- 
lining, rather  than  unfolding. 

And,  first :   Nature,   not  less  than 
(«.)-Nature    and  Scripture,  is  God's  Word.     In  both  lie 

Scriiiture  alike  God's  i       tt-         i  r  i  • 

j^'  reveals   Himseli,  speaking  to   man   as 

in  a  Bible  of  two  j^arts  or  volumes. 
"  There  arc  two  books,"  said  Sir  Thomas  Brown,  "  from 
which  I  collect  my  divinity ;  besides  that  wi'itten  one  of 
God,  another  of  His  servant  Nature — that  universal  and 
public  manuscript  that  lies  expansed  unto  the  eyes  of  all." 
I  know  that  there  is  a  sort  of  secret  feeling  that  to  call 
Nature  a  Bible  savors  of  irreverence.  But  let  us  take  care 
lest  our  religiosity  here  be  in  fact  a  sort  of  infidelity  under 
guise  of  sanctity.  Let  us  beware  of  Polytheism,  worship- 
ing two  Gods,  the  God  of  Nature  and  tlie  God  of  Scrij)- 
ture  :  the  latter  being  tlie  better  God.  No  ;  Deity  speaks 
to  us  alike  in  llis  AVords  and  in  His  Works,  in  Scripture 
and  in  Nature. 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.    15 

Secondly  :  coming  tlms  equally  from 
(6.)-Nature     and    jjj^   j^^j^^|      ^^^  ^^^,^   gj^^l^g  ^^^^^^^  ^^^_ 
Scripture      Mutually    ,       ,.    ,  i       ,i  t^-    •.  i  i 

Comnicmental  traclict  each  other,    t  mite  man,  capable 

of  mistakes  and  subject  to  vacillations, 
may  be  and  is  inconsistent.  But  Inlinite  God  is  not  a  man 
that  He  should  lie,  nor  the  Son  of  man  that  He  should  re- 
pent (Num.  xxiil.  19).  He  cannot  deny  HimseK  (2  Tim.  ii.  13). 
If,  then,  there  be  inconsistency  between  His  Words  and 
His  Works,  the  presumption  is  that  the  inconsistency  is 
only  apparent,  and  springs  from  our  failure  to  interpret 
the  two  Bibles  truly. 

Thirdly :  this  leads  to  the  remark 

(c.)-Ourlaterpre-    ^j^^,    ^^j^-jg  ^^^^   j,^^^^^   ^^.^  ^^yij^Q    ^nd 

tations  Liable  to  Er-     ,         ^         ,  .  i  •  c    i 

j,^jj.  thereiore  true,  our  mterjDretation  ot  the 

Bibles  is  human,  and  therefore  liable  to 
error.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  unintentional  misin- 
terpretation of  Scripture,  and  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the 
unintentional  misinterpretation  of  ISTature.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  history  of  the  interpretations  of  these  two 
Bibles,  Nature  and  Scripture,  is  more  or  less  a  history  of 
modifications  and  recantations.  And  so  it  must  ever  be, 
so  long  as  man  is  finite  and  fallible. 

Fourthly :  nevertheless,  as  time  ad- 
((/)-Our    Under-  ^.^nccs,  our  Understanding  of  the  two 

standnig  of  the  Two    -,-^..  ^  ^  i     o      • 

Bibles  rrogrcssive.      ^^^es,   mture   and    Scripture,   grows 
larger  and  clearer. 

Take  the  case  of  Nature.     How  is 
I  v)—  rue  o      a-   .^  ^^^^  ^^  have  in  our  libraries  such 

noble  volumes  as  WheM^elPs  ''  History 
of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  and  AVheweirs  "History  of 
Scientific  Ideas  ? "  Simply  because  our  knowledge  of 
Nature  is  a  growth — advancing  from  the  little  to  the  more, 
from  the  obscure  to  the  clearer,  from  the  less  true  to  the 


ture; 


16  STUDIES   IN   TUE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

more  true.  And  tliis  remark  tliat  the  Icnowledge  of  Na- 
ture is  progressive  is  eminently  true  of  that  science  which, 
it  is  alleged,  conflicts  most  directly  with  the  Mosaic  narra- 
tive, the  science  of  Geology.  As  Geology  is  among  the 
youngest  of  the  Physical  Sciences,  so  it  is  among  the  most 
shifting.  True,  some  of  its  exponents  are  wont  to  talk  of 
its  certainties,  using  such  strong  terms  as  "  incontroverti- 
ble," '  •  proof  positive,"  "  absolute  demonstration,"  and  the 
like.  But  it  is  not  the  great  inasters  who  talk  thus — only 
the  sciolists.  For  the  true  scientiiic  spirit,  like  tlie  time 
theological,  is  ever  cautious  and  modest.  How  far  Geology 
is  from  being  a  matured  or  settled  science  is  evident,  e.  g., 
from  the  debates  between  eminent  geologists  touching  the 
antiquity  of  the  earth.  However  strongly  the  stratified 
rocks  may  seem  to  testify  to  the  extreme  antiquity  of  the 
globe,  geological  phenomena  occurring  in  our  days,  and 
before  our  own  eyes,  such,  e.  g.,  as  upheavals  and  subsid- 
ences of  lands,  emei'gence  and  disappearance  of  islands, 
recession  and  procession  of  sliores,  depositions  by  equa- 
torial currents,  rapid  and  extensive  chemical  crystalliza- 
tions, and  the  like,  as  strongly  suggest  the  comparatively 
recent  origin  of  the  earth.  Observe,  it  is  not  on  Scriptural 
or  moral  grounds  that  I  object  to  these  geological  theories. 
The  question  here  is  simply  a  question  of  fact.  Hypoth- 
eses, however  briUiant,  are  not  demonstrations.  Geology 
is  a  very  noble  science,  but  she  is  still  in  her  teens. 

And  as  the  knowledge  of  Nature  is 

(2.)— And  True  of  progressive,  so  is  the  knowledge  of  Scrip- 
ture.    That  this  is  i)Ossible  and  reason- 
able, is  evident  from  such  considerations  as  the  following  : 

a.  Recovery  of  lost  manuscripts. 

J).  Discovery  of  archaeological  facts. 

c.  Better  understanding  of  the  principles  of  philology. 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.    I7 

a.  Better  methods  of  interpretation. 

e.  Liglits  reflected  from  newly-discovered  facts  in  "Na- 
ture. 

f.  Lights  reflected  from  the  growing  experience  of  the 
ages. 

Tlie  simple  circumstance  that  there  is  an  ever-growing 
demand  for  a  revision  of  the  received  version  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  a  striking  testimony  to  the  fact  that  our  knowl- 
edge of  Scripture  is  advancing.  How  profound  in  this 
connection  the  words  of  Bishop  Butler  ! — 

/ 

"  As  it  is  owned,  the  whole  scheme  of  Nature  is  not  yet 
understood,  so,  if  it  ever  comes  to  be  understood  before  the 
Restitution  of  all  things  (Acts  iii.  21),  and  without  miracu- 
lous interpositions,  it  must  be  in  the  same  way  as  natural 
knowledge  is  come  at — by  the  continuance  and  progress  of 
learning  and  of  liberty,  and  by  particular  persons  attending 
to,  comparing,  and  pursuing  intimations  scattered  up  and 
down  it,  which  are  overlooked  and  disregarded  by  the  gen- 
erality of  the  world.  For  this  is  the  way  in  which  all  im- 
provements are  made :  by  thoughtful  men  tracing  on  obscure 
hints,  as  it  were,  dropped  us  by  Nature  accidentally,  or  which 
seem  to  come  into  our  minds  by  chance.  Nor  is  it  at  all  in- 
credible that  a  book,  which  has  been  so  long  in  the  possession 
of  mankind,  should  contain  many  truths  as  yet  undiscovered. 
For  all  the  same  phenomena,  and  the  same  faculties  of  in- 
vestigation, from  which  such  great  discoveries  in  natural 
knowledge  have  been  made  in  the  present  and  last  age,  were 
equally  in  the  possession  of  mankind  several  thousand  years 
before.  And  possibly  it  might  be  intended  that  events,  as 
they  come  to  pass,  should  open  and  ascertain  the  meaning  of 
several  parts  of  Scripture."— ("Analogy  of  Religion," 
Part  ii.-,  chapter  3.) 


18  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

« 

,  ,    ^.     ,,    _,  Fifthly :  wliat,  then,  is  the   infer- 

(e.) — Time  the  Great  -^  '  ■,       ,. 

Expositor.  ^^ce  to  DC  drawn  from  the  foregoing 

remarks  ?  Simply  this  :  Since  it  is  true 
that  Nature  and  Scripture  are  alike  the  Word  of  God ; 
that  the  two  Bibles  cannot  contradict  each  other  ;  that  the 
inteii:)retation  of  both  of  them  is  alike  human  and  hable  to 
error ;  and  that  our  understanding  of  them  is  progressive : 
then  it  follows  that,  in  any  case  of  aj)parent  conflict  be- 
tween a  Scriptural  statement  and  an  alleged  scientific  fact, 
it  is  our  duty  to  be  cautious  in  our  judgments,  reserved  in 
our  statements,  and  patiently  await  the  tuition  of  future 
discoveries.  Had  the  Church  thus  waited,  she  never  would 
have  pronounced  Galileo  a  heretic.  Had  the  Academy 
thus  waited,  she  never  would  have  pronounced  Moses  a 
blunderer.  It  is  pleasant  to  believe  that  not  one  of  the 
thus  far  demonstrated  facts  of  science  is  hostile  to  the  Mo- 
saic story  fairly  interpreted.  Lives  there  the  man  who 
knows — demonstrably  knows — that  Moses  has  told  an  un- 
truth ?  Remember  that  candor  neither  aflSrms  nor  denies 
till  she  knows.  Let  the  Church  and  the  Academy  listen 
to  each  other  respectfully,  and  treat  each  other  fairly.  Let 
Science  help  Scripture,  and  let  Scripture  help  Science.  In 
all  cases  of  aj^parent  conflict  between  them,  the  true  phi- 
losophy and  the  true  bravery,  alike  for  theologian  and 
for  scientist,  is  to  await  the  tuition  of  events.  Time  is  the 
great  expositor.  Let  the  Church,  then,  in  whose  behalf  it 
is  my  vocation  specially  to  speak,  calmly  abide  her  time. 
The  grass  withereth  ;  the  flower  fadeth  ;  but  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  endureth  forever  (i  Totcr  i.  24,  25).  And  among  the 
many  tributes  which  science  shall  yet  lay  at  the  feet  of  Im- 
manucl  and  Immanuers  bride,  not  the  least  costly  M'ill  be 
that  ])rought  by  fair  Geology  herself.  Yea,  the  very  stones 
of  the  iield  will  be  in  league  with  Messiah's  Church  (Job  v.  23). 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.  19 

So  mucli  for  the  mutual  relations  of  Science  and  Reve* 
lation. 

2._The  Language         But  there   is  another  point  which 

of  the  Creation  Rec-  in  this  connection  demands  attention. 

ord  Phenomenal.  jj^^  f^y  jg  this  story  of  the  Creative 
Week  to  be  interpreted  science-wise  ?  In  other  words,  is 
this  Creation  Kecord,  in  all  its  details,  to  be  taken  liter- 
ally ?  Remember,  then,  that  the  Bible  does  not  profess  to 
be  a  scientific  treatise ;  it  does  not  profess  to  be  written 
for  a  scientific  purpose ;  it  does  not  profess  to  describe  the 
facts  of  Nature  philosophically — that  is  to  say,  with  scien- 
tific accuracy.  Professing  to  reveal  spiritual  truths,  i.  e., 
truths  which  could  not  have  been  learned  without  super- 
natural disclosure,  it  leaves  the  discovery  of  the  facts  of 
Nature — a  discovery  which  can  be  wrought  out  by  man's 
own  powers — to  the  natural  laws  of  human  unfolding. 
And  when  it  does  speak  of  the  facts  of  Nature,  it  speaks 
phenomenally — that  is  to  say,  it  describes  things  of  this 
sort,  not  as  they  absolutely  are,  but  as  they  seem  to  be ; 
not  philosophically,  but  optically ;  not  scientifically,  but 
scenically.  God  knows  that  I  would  not  willingly  offend 
the  least  of  His  little  ones.  God  knows  that  I  believe  that 
His  Scripture  is  inspired,  and  that  I  bow  before  it  as  rev- 
erently as  ever  did  the  devoutest  believer.  And  yet, -let 
me  frankly  say  it,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Creation  Rec- 
ord is  to  be  taken  literally.  If  I  take  one  part  of  it  as  lit- 
eral, then  I  must  be  consistent,  and  take  the  whole  as  lit- 
eral :  e.  g.,  I  must  believe  that  the  seven  days  were  literal 
days  of  twenty-four  hours  each  ;  that  God  spake  in  an  ar- 
ticulate, audible  voice,  though  there  was  not  an  ear  to 
hear ;  that  there  was  a  first  day  with  morning  and  even- 
ing, though  there  was  no  sun  to  rise  and  set,  and  so  intro- 
duce mora,  and  bequeath  eve  ;  that  it  was  the  soil  itself 


20  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

that  brought  forth  vegetation  and  birds  and  beasts ;  that 
God  literally  spoke  to  the  animals,  saying,  "Be  fniitful 
and  multiply,  and  fill  the  earth  ; "  that  He  actually  had 
lungs,  and  breathed  into  the  nostrils  of  the  first  man ;  that 
He  actually  performed  a  surgical  operation  in  Eden,  and 
metamorj)hosed  one  of  Adam's  ribs  into  a  woman ;  that 
He  actually  rested  on  the  seventh  day  because  He  was  real- 
ly tired  out  with  His  creative  toils.  For  myself,  most  rev- 
erently I  say  it,  the  God  I  kneel  before  is  greater  than  this. 
Observe  :  the  question  before  us  is  not  a  question  of  pow- 
er ;  of  course,  God  could  have  done  all  this ;  nothing  is 
too  hard  for  Him,  except  to  do  wrong ;  but  the  question  is 
a  question  of  fact ;  did  He  literally  do  all  this  ?  Eemem- 
ber  that,  in  this  matter  of  Creation — this  record  of  making 
real,  ponderable  entities  out  of  space  or  nothing — we  are 
moving  in  the  region  of  the  transcendent,  the  unspeakable, 
the  absolutely  inconceivable.  Creation — mark  the  word — 
transcends  all  experience,  transcends  even  conception  itself. 
Hence  the  words  describing  Creation  must,  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  be  figurative,  or  parabolic.  And  par- 
able is  the  very  highest  form  of  truth.  A  geometrical  ax- 
iom is  not  so  true  as  a  Nazarene  parable.  The  one  is  teth- 
ered by  material  limits  ;  the  other  is  as  limitless  as  God's 
immensity.  Accordingly,  I  believe,  with  some  of  the 
devoutest  scientists  of  the  Church,  that  the  record  of  the 
Creative  "Week  is  the  record  of  a  Divinely  inspired  vi- 
sion, wherein  the  beholder  was  Divinely  vouchsafed  a 
glimpse  of  the  creative  process,  as  though  unfolded  in  a 
series  of  unrolling  sections  of  a  Divine  panorama.  And  I 
believe  this,  not  merely  because  the  facts  of  creation  are 
inherently  transcendental  and  incommunicable,  but  also 
because  revelation  by  vision  was  God's  favorite  method  of 
instruction  in  the  primitive  ages.     Listen  to  Elihu,  son  of 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.    21 

Baracliel  and  friend  of  Job,  speaking  when  liumanity  was 
yet  young  :  "  In  dreams,  in  visions  of  the  night,  when  deep 
sleep  f  alleth  on  man,  in  slmnbers  on  his  bed ;  then  doth 
God  open  the  ear  of  men  and  seal  up  their'  instruction  " 
(Job  xxxiii.  15,  16).  Tlius  did  He  instruct  Abraham,  Jacob, 
Joseph,  Samuel,  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  Joseph  of  Xaza- 
reth,  the  Wise  Men  from  the  East,  Peter,  Paul,  and,  in  a 
very  eminent  degree,  John  of  Patmos.  What  is  the  Book 
of  the  Eevelation  but  a  series  of  majestic  visions  ?  And  as 
that  Book  is  a  panoramic  Apocalypse  of  the  future,  so  I 
firmly  believe  is  the  Creation  Kecord  a  panoramic  Apoca- 
lypse of  the  past.  Accordingly,  its  language  is  not  scientific, 
but  phenomenal  or  pictorial.  Even  scientists  themselves, 
who  very  properly  demand  strict  accuracy  of  expression 
when  discoursing  on  scientific  matters,  nevertheless  often 
allow  themselves,  and  very  properly,  to  use  phenomenal 
language,  as  when  they  speak,  e.  g.,  of  sunrise  and  sunset. 
Why  should  not  the  wiiter  of  this  venerable  Archive,  living 
in  that  far-off,  childlike  antiquity,  be  allowed  the  same  lib- 
erty ?  And,  indeed,  we  may  bless  God  that  the  language 
of  Scripture  on  such  matters  is  optical.  For,  had  the  Bi- 
ble been  \vi-itten  in  the  scientific  style,  it  would  have  been 
a  sealed  book  except  to  the  initiated.  Moreover,  it  would 
have  been  misunderstood  and  assailed  by  these  very  ini- 
tiates, even  far  more  than  it  actually  has  been ;  for  Science, 
like  every  other  thing  of  life,  is  a  process,  constantly  out- 
growing and  sloughing  off  its  own  opinions  and  putting 
forth  new.  An  interesting  book  has  be'en  written,  entitled 
"  Variations  of  Popery."  Possibly  another  book,  equally 
interesting,  might  be  written,  entitled  "  Yariations  of 
Science."  But  phenomenal  language  never  becomes  obso- 
lete. To  the  end  of  time,  savant,  not  less  than  savage,  will 
speak  of  sumise  and  sunset.     No,  the  Bible  does  not  pro- 


22  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

fess  to  be  a  scientific  book.  It  professes  to  describe  such 
matters  as  we  have  in  hand  optically — i.  e.,  as  they  look. 
JSTevertheless,  it  does  profess  even  here  to  tell  the  truth. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  sun  did  not  rise  this  morning ; 
it  is  the  rotation  of  the  globe  on  its  axis  that  gave  us 
what  seemed  to  be  a  sunrise.  Do  you  then  charge  your 
almanac-maker  with  ignorance  or  falsehood  because  he  has 
told  you  that  the  sun  would  rise  this  morning  at  twenty- 
two  minutes  past  seven  o'clock,  or  that  he  will  set  to-night 
at  fifty-two  minutes  past  four  ?  IS^evertheless,  although 
theoretically  false,  these  phenomenal  statements  touching 
the  heavenly  bodies  are  practically  true,  and  so  true  that 
on  the  basis  of  them  your  navigator,  in  mid-ocean,  will 
accurately  calculate  his  longitude  and  latitude,  and  your 
astronomical  clock  at  Washington  will  give  the  exact  time 
of  day  to  a  continent.  Precisely  so  with  the  Mosaic  nar- 
rative of  the  Creation.  Scientifically  false  it  may  be  ;  op- 
tically, and  in  the  moral  sense,  profoundly  true  I  firmly 
believe  it  is.  Most  unfair,  then,  and  even  absurd  it  would 
be  to  discuss  it  scientifically.  And  yet  I  feel  perfectly 
sure  that  it  is  just  as  true  as  the  statements  of  jour  alma- 
nac-maker. So  much  for  the  purpose  of  the  Creation  Rec- 
ord and  the  mode  of  its  revelation  to  the  original  Xarrator. 
And  now  to  return  to  the  main 
- .  :~  -^"^    "  ^'^^  "■  point  at  present  in  hand :  the  assaults 

Living  Issue.  ^  •'^ 

on  the  Mosaic  Story ;  for  it  is  assaulted, 
let  it  be  confessed,  very  formidably.  And  I  am  here  to 
defend  it ;  and  this  because  I  believe  it  to  be  true  in  the 
sense  in  wdiich  the  author  meant  it.  And,  in  defending 
it,  I  shall,  of  course,  speak  from  the  platform  of  a  Chris- 
tian believer.  At  the  same  time  I  shall  speak  from  the 
platform  of  one  who  has  a  profound  homage  for  the  scien- 
tific method,   freely  taking,  whenever   the   occasion  de- 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.         23 

mands,  my  weapons  from  the  arsenal  of  science  itself. 
And  in  thus  repelling  from  tlie  platform  of  the  scientist 
tlie  assaults  of  unbelievers,  I  am  sure  I  am  sanctioned  by 
Apostolic  authority.  Tnie,  you  hear  from  the  Apostles 
no  such  words  as  gravitation,  electricity,  spectrum  analy- 
sis. And  no  wonder  ;  the  physical  sciences  were  not  then 
born.  Nevertheless  there  were  then,  as  there  are  now,  as- 
saults against  Cliristianity.  These  assaults,  however,  came 
not  from  scientists,  but  from  Jewish  ritualists  and  legal- 
ists; from  Gentile  polytheists  and  idolators.  And  the 
Apostles,  wherever  they  went,  met  the  foe,  not  at  some 
ancient,  abandoned  point,  but  at  the  point  of  contempora- 
neous assault.  Since  then  wonderful  advances  have  been 
made.  Since  then  the  telescope  and  the  microscope  have 
been  invented.  Since  then  Christianity  has  been  sum- 
moned to  grapple  with  new  foes — foes  more  formidable 
than  any  that  were  wont  to  broaden  their  phylacteries  in 
Herod's  temple,  or  kiss  toward  the  shade  of  Plato  in  the 
ohve-grove  of  Athens's  academy.  And  now  suppose  that 
Paul,  rallied  from  Ciesar's  axe,  and  living  again  to-day, 
were  set  here  in  Philadelphia  for  the  defense  of  the  Gos- 
pel, even  as  he  had  been  in  those  Eoman  days  of  yore. 
How  think  you  would  he  speak  ?  Would  he  not  take 
up  the  modern  gauntlet,  going  forth  to  meet  the  new 
foes,  as  he  was  wont  to  go  forth  to  meet  the  old  foes, 
grappling  with  them  on  their  own  ground  ?  Would  he 
not  close  in  with  the  modern  false  interpreter  of  God's 
first  Bible,  as  he  was  wont  to  close  in  with  the  ancient 
legalist  of  E,ome,  the  ancient  skeptic  of  Corinth,  the  an- 
cient ritualist  of  Galatia,  the  ancient  mystic  of  Colosse  ? 
Old  foes  they  are  ;  but  they  wear  new  masks.  Be  it 
ours,  then,  to  strip  off  the  new  masks,  and  so  disclose  the 
old  foes. 


24  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 


And  yet  here  at  tliis  very  point  let 

pint  oi  iiiese 
Studies. 


4. — Spirit  of  these  /.  n     j.i     .     .  i  i        , 

me  say,  once  lor  all,  that,  throughout 


tliese  studies,  I  shall  never  intentionally 
indulge  in  philippic.  Of  course,  I  shall  exercise  man's 
common  prerogative — the  right  of  personal  opinion.  But 
I  shall  never,  if  God  shall  be  so  good  as  to  help  me,  stoop 
to  denunciation.  For  there  is  no  eloquence  so  easy,  so 
transient,  so  sterile,  and,  if  you  will  allow  me,  so  vulgar, 
as  the  eloquence  of  invective.  Of  course,  we  ought  to 
fight  every  lie.  But  the  best  way  of  fighting  it  is  not 
with  the  insect  buzz  and  sting  of  diatribe :  the  all-con- 
quering way  is  to  let  in  on  it  the  calm,  noiseless  sunbeam 
of  Truth. 

This,  then,  is  our  thu'd  reason  for  studying  the  Story 
of  the  Creative  Week :  it  is  the  chief  point  of  modern 
scientific  assault. 

But  there  is  a  fourth  and  still  strong- 
IV.— Moral  Mean-  er  reason  for  engaging  in  this  study: 
ing  of  the  Story,      it  is  the  Moral  Meaning  of  the  Story 
itself. 
1.  —  Nature    and         ^or  I  firmly  belicve  that  a  profound, 
Scripture  correspon-  Divinely  -  Ordained  correspondence  ex- 
<^'^^'-  ists  between  things  spiritual  and  things 

natural.  Observe  the  order  of  my  words :  Between  things 
spiritual  and  things  natural,  putting  tilings  spiritual  first. 
And  this  is  a  vital  point.  For  we  are  wont  to  think  that 
it  is  by  a  species  of  happy  accident  that  certain  resem- 
blances exist  between  the  kingdom  of  matter  and  the 
kingdom  of  spirit.  Thus  we  are  wont  to  cite  certain 
metaphors  of  Holy  Scripture  as  instances  of  God's  conde- 
scension, representing  Him  as  adjusting  Himself  to  our 
weakness  by  setting  forth  Sj^i ritual  truth  in  metaphors — 
that  is,  in  language  "  borrowed,"  as  we  say,  from  hmnan 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.  25 

relations  and  material  phenomena.  It  is  well  worth  pon- 
dering, however,  whether  God,  instead  of  thus  borrowing 
from  ISTature,  and  so  employing  an  after-thonght,  did  not 
create  N^ature  for  this  very  purpose,  among  others — name- 
ly, of  illustrating  His  spiritual  kingdom.  Nature  being  in 
a  profound  sense  its  counterpart,  answering  to  it  as  though 
in  way  of  shadow  and  impress.  E,  g.,  we  are  told  that 
the  Church  is  Christ's  Body  (i  Cor.  xii.  12-27).  Of  course,  it 
is  easy  to  trace  many  analogies  between  the  natural  organ- 
ism of  the  head  and  its  body,  and  the  spiritual  organism 
of  Christ  and  His  Church.  But  whence  came  these  an- 
alogies ?  Are  they  accidental  ?  Did  Jesus  Christ  adjust 
HimseK  and  His  Church  to  a  scheme  of  Nature  already 
existing?  Or  did  He,  foreknowing  all  things  from  the 
beginning,  and  foreseeing  the  peculiarly  vital  relation  He 
would  sustain  to  His  own  chosen  people,  so  construct  the 
scheme  of  Nature  as  that  the  human  organism  of  head 
and  body  should  set  forth  the  mystical  union  of  Saviour 
and  Saved  ?  Again  :  Jesus  Christ  is  said  to  be  the  Bride- 
groom, and  the  Church  His  Bride  (Eph.  v.  25-33).  Is  this 
language  borrowed  from  the  marriage  institution  ?  No  ; 
the  marriage  institution  was  founded  for  this  very  pur- 
pose— among  others,  namely,  to  set  forth  the  unutterably 
tender  relation  between  Jesus  Christ  and  those  who  are 
His.  For,  as  Eve  proceeded  from  out  of  Adam,  so  does 
the  Church  proceed  from  out  of  the  Second  Adam  (Gen.  ii. 
21-24),  members  of  His  body,  being  of  His  flesh  and  of 
His  bones  (Eph.  v.  30).  Again :  Jesus  Christ  is  called  the 
Last  Adam  (i  Cor.  xv.  45).  Why  is  this  name  given  to  Him  ? 
As  an  after-thought,  suggested  by  the  First  Adam  ?  No. 
But  because  the  First  Adam,  in  the  very  beginning,  was 
instituted  to  be  to  the  race  natural  what  the  Second  Adam 
is  to  the  race  spiritual,  or  the  family  of  the  redeemed  ;  and, 
2 


26  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

therefore,  he  is  expressly  called  a  figure  or  tjipe  of  Ilim 
"Who  was  to  come  (Rom,  v.  14).  And  when  the  theological 
mind  of  Christendom,  instead  of  seeking  to  explain,  as  has 
been  its  wont,  the  Second  Adam  by  the  First,  shall  soar 
higher,  and  seek  to  explain  the  First  Adam  by  the  Sec- 
ond :  in  other  words,  Adam's  relation  to  his  race  by 
Christ's  relation  to  His  redeemed :  then  will  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church,  or  Christ's  mystical  Body,  come  into  clearer 
light,  and  be  seen  resting  on  a  solider  foundation.  Again : 
Jesus  Christ  calls  Himself  the  true  Bread  from  heaven 
(John  vi.  32-58).  We  SCO  at  once  the  appropriateness  of  the 
saying,  "  As  the  body  is  nourished  by  food,  so  is  the  sjjii-it 
nourished  by  Christ."  But  how  happens  it  that  this  say- 
ing is  so  true  ?  Is  the  analogy  merely  accidental  ?  Or 
did  He  Who  in  the  beginning,  before  the  world  was,  when 
forecasting  His  creative  and  redemptive  acts,  so  devise  the 
scheme  of  I^ature  as  that  the  sustenance  of  the  body  by 
food  should  s}anbolize  the  sustenance  of  the  Spirit  by 
Christ  ?  But  perhaps  you  say  that  man  would  have  been 
just  as  dependent  on  food  for  maintenance  as  he  now  is, 
even  had  there  been  no  Eedeemer  and  no  Bread  of  Life. 
The  objection  is  more  specious  than  solid.  For  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  Almighty  Creator,  had  He  so  chosen,  could 
have  devised  and  constructed  a  different  scheme  of  N"ature, 
according  to  which  man  could  have  been  maintained  with- 
out food.  But  the  fact  is,  that  He  has  not  so  devised  and 
constructed  Mature.  On  the  other  hand.  He  has  so  con- 
structed man  in  his  relations  to  Nature  as  that  his  daily 
bodily  life  shall  be  a  constant  reminder,  and  proi^hecy,  and 
symbol,  of  his  daily  spiritual  life ;  so  that  not  less  for  his 
spirit  than  for  his  body  he  can  each  morning  pray,  "  Give 
us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  Again:  the  Kingdom  of 
God  is  represented  as  a  growth ;  first  the  seed,  then  the 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.    27 

"blade,  then  tlie  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear  (Mark  iy. 
26-29).  It  is  the  law  of  the  spiritual  life.  And  of  this  spirit- 
ual growth  the  vegetable  growths  around  us  are  a  magnifi- 
cent symbol.  The  plant-world  is,  in  many  particulars,  a 
perfect  picture  of  the  spiritual.  But  whence  this  har- 
mony ?  "Whence  this  correspondence  on  a  scale  so  colossal  ? 
Is  it  accidental  ?  Let  no  believer  in  God  dare  say  it.  And^ 
if  intentional,  did  the  Creator  arrange  His  spiritual  king- 
dom with  reference  to  His  natural,  or  did  He  constnict  the 
realm  of  I^ature  with  reference  to  His  spiritual  realm,  ad- 
justing the  former  to  the  latter  ?  Take  one  more  example : 
the  blessed  truth  of  God's  Fatherhood  :  "  When  ye  pray, 
say,  Father  "  (Luke  xi.  2).  Conceive,  and  the  conception  is 
certainly  possible,  that  the  parental  relation  were  altogeth- 
er unknown,  and  that  each  human  being  took  his  station 
on  earth,  as  Adam  did  in  Eden — an  immediate  creation 
of  God.  It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  under  such  cir- 
cumstances we  could  have  understood  at  all  the  blessed 
import  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  God's  Fatherhood. 
In  fact,  the  heavenly  love  becomes  a  real  thing  to  us  only 
in  our  exercise  and  sense  of  an  earthly.  The  human  fa- 
ther's love  is  to  man  a  helping  image  of  the  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther's. And  this,  as  I  verily  believe,  was  one  of  the  primary 
ends  to  be  secured  by  the  original  establishment  of  the 
Parental  Relation.  God,  in  calling  Himself  our  Father, 
does  not  borrow  the  epithet  from  earth.  But  in  the  very 
beginning  He  founded  the  earthly  parental  relation  that  it 
might  suggest,  prove,  and  explain  the  heavenly.  Hence 
the  resistless  force  of  the  Saviour's  argument  when,  ap- 
pealing to  the  very  foundations  of  man's  nature.  He  ex- 
claims :  "  Which  of  you  that  is  a  father,  if  his  son  shall 
ask  for  bread,  will  give  him  a  stone  ?  Or  if  he  ask  for  a 
fish,  will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent  ?     Or  if  he  shall 


28  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

ask  for  an  egg,  will  he  give  a  scorpion  ?  If  je  tlien,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  how 
much  more  will  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  those  who  ask  Him  ?  "  (Luke  xi.  11-13).  In  fact,  it  is  this 
Divinely-ordained  con'espondence  between  things  spirit- 
ual and  things  natural  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  Christ's 
method  as  Teacher ;  for  He  was  in  the  eminent,  superemi- 
nent  sense  the  Parable  Speaker,  evermore  saying :  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  this  or  like  that.  "  All  these 
words  spake  Jesus  to  the  multitude  in  parables  ;  and  with- 
out a  parable  spake  He  not  to  them  :  that  it  might  be  ful- 
filled which  was  spoken  through  the  prophet,  saying,  I 
will  open  my  mouth  in  parables,  I  will  utter  things  hidden 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  "  (Psalm  ixxviii.  2 ;  Matt, 
xiii.  34,  35).  In  fact,  erase  from  the  records  of  Christ's  say- 
ings all  He  has  said  in  form  of  parable,  and  figure,  and 
metaphor,  leaving  only  wdiat  He  taught  in  direct  state- 
ments, and  how  comparatively  meagre  the  residue !  Ah, 
it  is  the  invisible  w^orld  which  is  the  fact ;  it  is  the  visible 
world  which  is  the  metaphor !  And  this  fact  it  is  which 
makes  Holy  Scripture  so  inexhaustible  in  its  meanings 
alike  in  respect  to  depth  and  to  variety.'  Truths,  like  the 
seventy  whom  the  Lord  of  the  Kingdom  sent  forth,  are 
ever  aj)t  to  go  in  pairs  (Luke  x.  i).  "  All  things,"  said  an- 
other Jesus,  son  of  Sirach,  "  are  double,  the  one  against 
the  other  "  (Ecclus.  xlii.  24).  This  saying  is  the  basal  idea  of 
Bishop  Butler's  -profound  treatise,  "  The  Analogy  of  Re- 
ligion, Natural  and  Revealed,  to  the  Constitution  and 
Course  of  Nature,"  a  book  which,  notwithstanding  its  ob- 
solescent style,  should  be  in  every  thoughtful  man's  li- 
brary ;  for  it  will  teach  him  how  to  observe,  infer,  and 
adore.     Fine,  too,  is  the  saying  in  Longfellow's  "ll}pe- 

»  "  Habct  Scrlptura  sacra  haustus  prlmos,  habet  secundos,  habct  tertios."— Augustinb. 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS    FOR   THESE   STUDIES.  29 

rion  : "  "  His  thoughts  were  twice  born,  the  thoiiglit  itself, 
and  the  figurative  semblance  in  the  outer  world.  Thus, 
throiTgh  the  quiet,  still  waters  of  his  soul,  each  image  lloat- 

ed  double." 

"  The  swan  on  still  St.  Mary's  lake 
Floats  double,  sv\an  and  shadow." 

Thus  there  are  two  Bibles,  both  issuing  from  the  same 
Divine  Author :  the  one,  the  Bible  of  the  Unwritten  Word, 
or  the  Lex  non  Scvii)ta — the  other,  the  Bible  of  the  AVrit- 
ten  Word,  or  the  Lex  Scri])ta :  or,  rather,  the  one  Bible  is 
in  two  volumes,  the  volume  of  Nature  and  the  volume  of 
Scripture ;  and  the  first  volume  is  the  second  volume  illus- 
trated. For,  though  the  Written  Word  in  the  order  of 
pui-pose  precedes  the  Unwritten,  yet  in  the  order  of  time 
the  Unwritten  Word  precedes  the  AVritten.  That  was  not 
first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural,  and  after- 
ward that  which  is  spiritual  (i  Cor.  xv.  46).  Nor  can  I  con- 
ceive of  any  higher  aim  which  the  Christian  scientist  can 
place  before  himself  than  so  to  master  the  phenomena 
and  laM's  of  Nature  as  to  make  them  serve  as  interpreters 
of  the  secrets  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Of  course,  our 
studies  in  this  direction,  as  in  the  memorable  case  of  the 
AUegorists  of  ancient  Alexandria,  and  in  the  still  more 
memorable  case  of  Emmanuel  S wedenborg,  may  be  pushed . 
to  an  extreme,  so  that  fancy  usurps  the  ofiice  of  reason, 
and  our  explanations  become  puerile.  Yet  an  error  of 
this  kind  is  more  reverential,  and  supplies  the  soul  with 
more  solid  food,  than  the  opposite  freezing  error  of  deny- 
ing to  Scripture  the  exegetical  ministry  of  Nature. 

"Two  worlds  are  ours;  'tis  only  sin 
Forbids  us  to  descry 
The  mystic  heaven  and  earth  within, 
Plain  as  the  sea  and  sky. 


30  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

"  Thou,  "Who  hast  given  me  eyes  to  see 
And  love  this  sight  so  fair, 
Give  me  a  heart  to  find  out  Thee, 
And  read  Thee  everywhere." 

— ("  TuE  Cheistian  Year.") 

2.— Scope  of  this  You  see,  then,  tlie  scope  of  this  se- 
^^^^^^-  ries.     "While  it  will  be  my  purpose  to 

use  so  much  of  science  as  may  help  us  grasp  what  the 
Sacred  Writer  meant,  this  will  be  only  incidentally,  on 
our  way  to  a  nobler  goal.  Believing  that  ISTature,  not  less 
than  Scripture,  is  God's  own  Word  ;  believing  also  that 
Nature  herself  is  charged  with  latent  spiritual  meaning, 
it  will  be  my  main  purpose  to  endeavor,  with  God's  bless- 
ing, to  unfold  some  of  these  latent  meanings.  The  pur- 
pose is  large  and  high.  But,  if  God's  grace  is  given  us, 
it  may  be  that  as  we  swiftly  career  across  the  adamantine 
ledge  of  the  Creation  Archive,  the  scudding  hoofs  of 
observation  will  ehcit  some  sparkles  of  hidden,  holy  sug- 
gestion, some  scintillations  of  quickened,  heavenward 
aspiration. 

These  then  are  some  of  the  reasons 
for  engaging  in  the  study  of  the  Crea- 
tive Week :  first,  the  Antiquity  of  the  Story ;  secondly, 
the  Majesty  of  the  Story ;  thirdly,  tlie  Assault  on  the 
Story ;  and,  fourthly,  the  Moral  Meaning  of  the  Story.  I 
have,  I  submit,  shown  just  cause  for  our  assembling. 

May  it  not  be  in  vain  then  that  ever 

A    prnVCr 

and  anon  we  turn  aside  to  worship  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Nature !  For  here  too  is  a  burning  bush, 
wherein  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  speaks  to  us.  Be  it  ours 
to  put  off  our  shoes  from  off  om-  feet :  for  the  place  where- 
on we  stand  is  holy  ground  (Ex.  ill.  1-5).  Be  it  ours  to  have 
the  same  lowly  reverence  which  has  so  beautifully  marked 


INTRODUCTORY— REASONS  FOR  THESE  STUDIES.    31 

such  ilhistrious  Scientists  as  a  Galen,  who  regarded  his 
professional  life  as  "a  religious  hymn  in  honor  of  the 
Creator ; "  a  Copernicus,  on  whose  tombstone,  in  St.  John's 
of  Frauenburg,  is  the  following  epitaph:  "Not  the  grace 
bestowed  on  Paul  do  I  ask,  not  the  favor  shown  to  Peter 
do  I  crave ;  but  that  which  Thou  didst  grant  the  robber 
on  the  cross  do  I  implore ; "  '  a  Kepler,  who  concludes 
his  treatise  entitled  "  Harmony  of  the  Worlds  "  thus  :  "  I 
thank  Thee,  my  Creator  and  Lord,  that  Thou  hast  given 
me  this  joy  in  Thy  creation,  this  delight  in  the  works  of 
Thy  hands ;  I  have  shown  the  excellency  of  Thy  works 
unto  men,  so  far  as  my  finite  mind  was  able  to  compre- 
hend Thine  infinity:  if  I  have  said  aught  unworthy  of 
Thee,  or  aught  in  which  I  may  have  sought  my  own  glory, 
graciously  forgive  it ; "  a  Newton,  who  never  mentioned 
the  name  of  Deity  without  uncovering  his  head  ;  a  Fara- 
day, who  amid  his  profound  researches  never  forgot  his 
little  obscure  Sandemanian  chapel ;  a  Dana,  who  concludes 
his  "  Obsei-vations  on  Geological  History  "  with  the  august 

words, 

"Deus  Fecit." 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 

1  Non  parem  Paull  ^raliam  requiro, 
Veniam  Petri  neque  posco,  sed  quam 
In  crucis  ligno  dederas  latroni, 
Sedueus  oro. 


LECTUEE  II. 


GENESIS   OF   THE   UNIVEKSE. 


*'  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth." 

Genesis  i.  1. 

What  is  the  Origin  of  tlie  Uni- 

talQuestion.''"''""  ^■^^''^-  ^^l^ence  came  those  far-off 
planets  and  stars  ?  Whence  came  this 
earth,  these  mountains,  and  oceans,  and  rocks,  and  mole- 
cules, and  atoms  ?  What  is  the  Origin  of  Things  ?  It  is, 
perhaps,  the  sublimest  question  mortal  man  can  ask.  Ac- 
cording as  it  is  answered,  you  have  unspeakable  conse- 
quences :  either  a  God,  and  the  possibility  of  a  blissful  im- 
mortality, or  no  God  at  all,  and  the  annihilation  of  Religion 
itself.  Do  not  imagine,  then,  that  this  question  of  the 
Origin  of  the  Universe  is  only  a  secular  or  scientific  ques- 
tion. It  is  a  profoundly  religious  question,  going  down  to 
the  very  roots  of  Tnith,  and  Science,  and  Theology,  and 
Character,  and  Worsliip.  Moreover :  it  is  a  question  which 
thoughtful  men  are  everywhere  asking,  and  this,  too,  with 
an  unprecedented  intensity.  It  is  the  stupendous  problem 
before  the  thinking  world  of  to-day.  Neither  imagine  that 
it  is  being  asked  only  in  yonder  scientific  cloisters ;  it  is 
being  asked  in  your  marts,  and  by  your  very  firesides. 
And  the  dreadful  answer,  which  you,  O  Christian,  are 
fondly  dreaming  is  confined  to  a  few  philosoj)liei*s  and 
avowed  atheists,  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  being  openly  in- 


GENESIS   OF  THE   UNIVERSE.  33 

stalled  in  many  of  your  scientiiic  institutions,  and  is  subtly 

gliding  into  your  universities  and  academies,  your  clubs 

and  worksbops,  ay,  your  very  cburclies  tbemselves.      lle- 

membering,  then,  the  sublime  gravity  of  the  problem,  the 

tremendous  moral  consequences  it  involves,  the  profound 

stir  it  is  making  among  the  thoughtful  of  the  community, 

I  cannot  but  think  that  the  discussion  of  the  problem  from 

this  platform  is  particularly  opportune.     May  the  Spirit  of 

all  Truth  then  especially  aid  us  as  we  ponder  the  f  oUoAving 

theme :  The  Genesis  of  the  Universe. 

At  the  very  outset,  then,  let  us  con- 
II.   The   Precise       .  •    i     xi  i  i         -i    £ 

ceive  precisely  the  problem  before  us. 

Clearness  of  conception  at  this  point  is 
of  utmost  consequence.  For,  strange  to  say,  there  is  here 
much  dinmcss  of  idea,  and  vagueness  of  talk,  even  among 
the  educated  and  scientific.  Let  me,  then,  carefully  illus- 
trate the  precise  nature  of  the  problem  before  us.  Sup- 
pose I  had  before  me  here  a  bar  of  iron,  weighing  one 
pound.  Out  of  this  pound  of  iron  I  can  make  a  variety  of 
things :  e.  g.,  watch  springs,  needles,  nails,  scissors,  razors, 
tuning-forks,  and  so  on.  But  note  very  particularly  that 
in  order  to  make  these  various  articles  I  must  have  the 
pound  of  iron,  as  material,  to  start  with.  This  pound  of 
iron  I  cannot  make.  The  question  then  is  this :  Where 
did  the  iron  ore  itseK  come  from  ?  Who  made  that  ?  How 
shall  I  account  for  this  pound  of  matter  that  is  in  this  iron 
bar?  Take  a  more  complex  case.  Suppose  I  had  here  a 
gallon  of  water  weighing  eight  pounds,  I  can  alter  the 
condition  and  character  of  this  water  in  various  ways.  I 
can  solidify  it  into  ice.  I  can  evaporate  it  into  steam.  I 
can  mix  it  with  other  substances,  and  form  a  new  com- 
pound. I  can  even  decompose  it  into  its  constituent  ele- 
ments, having  as  my  result,  in  measures  of  weight,  eight 


34  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

parts  of  oxygen  and  one  part  of  hydrogen ;  and  then  I  can 
again  recombine  them,  having  as  my  result  this  same  gal- 
lon or  eight  pounds  of  water.  01)serve  here,  too,  very  par- 
ticularly, just  what  it  is  I  do.  All  I  do,  or  can  do,  is  to 
change  the  condition  and  character  of  the  water,  putting  it 
to  new  and  various  uses.  I  did  not,  and  cannot,  make  the 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  which  compose  the  water.  Where 
did  these  elements  come  from  ?  How  shall  I  account  for 
these  eight  pounds  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  ?  Take  a  case 
still  more  complex.  Suppose  I  had  before  me  a  block  of 
wood  weighing  one  pound.  Out  of  it  I  miglit  make  a 
great  variety  of  figures :  e.  g.,  a  cube,  a  globe,  a  square,  a 
prism,  a  hexagon,  and  so  on.  But  observe  here,  too,  very 
particularly,  just  what  it  is  I  do.  All  I  make  is  the  figures. 
I  did  not,  and  I  cannot,  make  the  wood  or  matter  out  of 
which  I  construct  the  figures.  Where,  then,  did  this  wood, 
this  matter  itself,  come  from  ?  Sujjpose  you  tell  me  that 
the  wood  is  composed  of  a  certain  amount  of  carbon,  oxy- 
gen, and  hydrogen,  arranged  in  a  certain  definite  propor- 
tion. Still  you  do  not  answer  my  question.  Where  did 
tliese  elements  themselves  come  from  ?  If  I  cannot  make 
the  wood,  much  less  can  I  make  the  elements  which  com- 
pose the  wood.  What  is  the  oi-igin  of  this  pound  of  carbon 
and  oxygen  and  hydrogen?  You  see,  then,  the  precise 
nature  of  the  problem  before  us;  it  is  not  touching  the 
shaping  of  matter  already  existing ;  it  is  touching  the  origi- 
nation of  matter  it-self. 

And  now  let  us  try  to  form  some 

."/■";^T'°''*^  idea  of  the  Innnensity  of  the  problem; 
of  the  Problem.         .         ,  t     ■,  ^      \.      j.     r 

m  other  words,  let  us  try  to  lorm  some 

idea  of  the  extent  of  the  universe  :  that  is  to  say,  the 

amount  of  matter  actually  existing.     And,  in  doing  this, 

let  us  not  use  measures  of  superficial  extent,  trying  to  con- 


GENESIS   OF   THE   UNIVERSE.  35 

ccivG  the  vastness  of  the  earth,  or  the  number,  distances, 
and  magnitudes  of  tlie  stars.  Let  us  take  weight,  rather 
than  bulk,  as  our  standard  of  measurement.  For  the  quan- 
tity of  matter  in  a  given  body — say,  in  an  ingot  of  gold — 
is  not  measured  by  the  space  it  occupies  when  beaten  out, 
but  by  the  weight  it  has  when  put  in  the  scales.  Taking 
weight,  then,  rather  than  bulk,  as  the  measure  of  the 
amount  of  matter  in  the  universe,  let  us  approach  the 
aggregate,  so  to  speak,  by  degrees. 

Take,  e.  g.,  air,  as  the  representative 

Weisrht  of  the  Uni-      ^         ii.       •      -j.  ^'    ^  •      j.    j.   • 

^  01  matter  in  its  gaseous  or  lio^htest  state, 

verse.  ,  ^     ^  ^  *=> 

"  Light  as  air "  is  a  common  simile. 
Yet  light  as  air  is,  its  quantity  is  so  vast  that  it  presses 
earth's  surface  with  the  weight  of  fifteen  pounds  to  every 
square  inch.  Think,  then,  of  the  weight — that  is  to  say, 
quantity  of  atmospheric  material — resting  on  a  globe  25,000 
miles  in  circumference. 

Again :  take  water  as  the  representative  of  matter  in  its 
liquid  state.  A  cubic  inch  of  water  weighs  Y73  times  as 
much  as  a  cubic  inch  of  air — i.  e.,  contains  773  times  as 
much  matter.  The  Mississippi  alone  annually  discharges 
on  the  average  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  19,500,000,000,000 
cubic  feet  of  water,  equal  to  1-15.0  cubic  miles.  Think, 
now,  of  the  quantity  of  matter  stored  up  in  earth's  rivers, 
lakes,  vapors,  clouds,  rains,  snows,  glaciers,  dews,  subter- 
ranean reservoirs,  oceans  miles  in  depth  and  thousands  of 
miles  in  breadth. 

Again  :  take  iron  as  the  representative  of  matter  in  its 
solid  state.  Think  of  all  the  iron  that  is  made  use  of  and 
wrought  into  this  world's  fabrics  and  implements;  its 
countless  structures,  and  engines,  and  railways,  and  wheels, 
and  utensils,  and  machinery  of  every  kind,  to  say  nothing 
of  earth's  numerous  and  colossal  ore-beds. 


36  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Again :  think  of  the  amount  of  oxygen,  and  hydrogen, 
and  silicon,  and  aluniinimn,  and  magnesium,  and  calcium, 
and  potassium,  and  sodium,  and  carbon,  which  are  com- 
pressed in  this  earth's  crust ;  in  its  fauna,  and  flora,  and 
sand,  and  gravel,  and  clay,  and  marl,  and  coal,  and  boul- 
ders, and  quarries,  and  mountains. 

Yet  this  mighty  globe  of  ours,  having  a  circumference 
of  25,000  miles,  is  but  a  speck  in  the  universe  of  matter. 
Think  of  our  sun-system  with  its  hundreds  of  planets,  sat- 
ellites, rings,  aerolites,  etc.  Think  of  the  Sun  itself,  with 
■  its  diameter  of  880,000  miles  and  circumference  of  2,7G0- 
000  miles,  outweighing  355,000  earths. 

Think  of  the  25,000,000  other  sun-systems  belonging 
to  om-  own  Cluster  alone,  some  of  which  suns  are  immense- 
ly vaster  than  even  our  own  sun. 

Think  then  of  the  weight — that  is  to  say,  the  amount 
of  matter — represented  by  these  25,000,000  suns,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  planets,  moons, 
comets,  aerolites,  etc.,  with  which  each  one  of  these  25, 
000,000  suns  is  probably  escorted. 

But  these  25,000,000  sun-systems  belong  only  to  our 
own  Cluster.  •  The  telescope  has  disclosed  to  us  about 
G,000  such  nebulae,  and  is  constantly  disclosing  more.  In- 
stead of  speaking  of  millions  of  sun-systems,  we  may  per- 
haps speak  of  billions. 

And  so,  for  aught  we  know,  billions  on  billions,  quin- 
tillions  on  quintillions,  decillions  on  decillions.  Indeed, 
there  is  great  reason  for  believing  that  the  material  universe 
has  no  limits.  To  imagine  this  is  to  imagine  the  finite 
exercise  in  finite  space  of  God's  infinite  power,  and  so  the 
possibility  of  finite  man's  grasping  the  range  of  God's  in- 
finite capacity.  In  other  words :  to  imagine  this  is  to 
imagine  that  finite  man  can  touch  the  limits  of  the  out- 


GENESIS  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.  37 

working  of  God's  infinite  capacity,  and  so  grasp  tlie  range 

of  His  creation.     In  all  events,  the  universe,  practically 

speaking,  is  infinite. 

And  now  looms  up  before  us  our 

.*~ ,  ^     ^^  '  overwlielmino;  Problem.     "Whence  did 
lem  itself.  i  •      •  ■     ^  i 

this   inconceivable    amount   ot    matter 

come  ?  What  is  the  Origin  of  this  tremendous  weight  of 
Universe  ?  Again  I  ask  you  to  observe  carefully  what  the 
precise  problem  is.  The  question  is  not  concerning  the 
arrangement  of  matter  already  existing :  the  question  is 
concerning  the  origination  of  matter  itself.  Here  are  sixty 
or  seventy  elements  which,  so  far  as  we  know  at  present, 
make  up  the  existing  universe.  And  the  point  to  be  ex- 
actly observed  is  this  :  not  one  solitary  atom  of  these  ele- 
ments which  make  up  the  universe  can  man  make.  All 
that  man  can  do  is  to  operate  on  these  elements,  com- 
pounding them  in  various  proportions,  using  the  com- 
pounds in  various  ways,  shaping  them,  building  with 
them,  and  so  on.  In  short,  man  must  have  something  on 
which,  as  well  as  with  which,  to  operate.  "With  noth- 
ing he  can  do  nothing.  Here,  then,  is  our  startling  prolj- 
lem.  This  mighty  universe  of  ours,  weighing  a  number 
of  tons  simply  inconceivable,  is  nothing  but  the  sum  total 
of  these  atoms,  not  one  of  which  man  can  create,  so  far  as 
experience  goes ;  and  experience  is  the  grand  philosoj)hi- 
cal  test.  "What  an  appalling  aggregate  of  material,  then 
— of  oxygen,  and  hydrogen,  and  nitrogen,  and  carbon,  and 
silicon,  and  all  the  other  elements — making  the  weight  of 
the  universe,  have  we  to  account  for !  At  the  cost  of 
repetition,  but  at  the  gain  of  clearness  and  emphasis,  I 
ask  you  again  to  try  to  form  some  idea  of  tlie  weiglit  of 
the  universe — that  is  to  say,  the  amount  of  matter  in  it. 
Imagine  that  these  millions  of  sun-systems,  with  their  myr- 


38  STUDIES   IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

iads  of  satellites,  instead  of  being  separated  from  each  other 
countless  millions  of  miles  as  they  now  are,  were  consoli- 
dated into  one  mass.  How  unspeakable,  how  purely  in- 
conceivable, the  weight — i,  e.,  the  quantity — of  matter !  In 
that  stupendous,  inconceivable  mass  this  earth  of  ours,  with 
its  diameter  of  8,000  miles,  would  be  but  as  a  point  in  an 
area  of  millions  of  square  leagues.  Think  now  of  the 
amount  of  matter  which  is  represented  in  a  single  ton. 
Even  that  thought  oppresses  you.  Yet  so  light  a  substance 
as  our  own  terrestrial  atmosphere  presses  earth's  surface 
with  a  weight  of  more  than  20,000,000  tons  on  each  square 
mile.  Think  now  of  the  197,000,000  square  miles  of  sur- 
face presented  by  this  earth-sphere  of  25,000  miles  circum- 
ference. In  addition  to  this  inconceivable  amount,  think 
of  the  earth's  structures  of  wood,  and  brick,  and  stone,  and 
iron ;  the  tonnage  of  earth's  forests,  earth's  animals,  earth's 
oceans,  earth's  sands,  earth's  coal  and  ore  beds,  earth's  con- 
tinental mountain-ranges  of  solid  rock.  To  say  nothing 
of  the  tonnage  of  the  hundreds  of  satellites  of  our  own 
sun-system,  think  of  the  tonnage,  that  is  to  say,  quantity, 
of  material  which  forms  the  sun,  oiTtweighing  355,000 
earths.  Think  of  the  tonnage  of  25,000,000  other  suns, 
many  of  which  are  hundreds  of  times  larger  than  our  own, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  countless  satellites  with  which  each 
of  these  suns  is  escorted.  Think  of  the  tonnage  of  6,000 
ncbuliB,  each  perhaps  with  its  score  of  millions  of  sun-sys- 
tems. To  speak  probably  within  bounds,  the  tonnage, 
that  is  to  say,  amount,  of  matter  composing  this  earth  of 
ours,  compared  with  that  of  the  rest  of  the  stupendous 
mass,  would  be  as  a  thistle-down  balanced  against  a  million 
of  suns.  Here,  tlien,  is  the  mighty  question :  "  How  ac- 
count for  this  tremendous  Fact  ?  Whence  came  this  in- 
conceivable amount  of  material  ? " 


GENESIS  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.  39 

It  is   a  fair  question  to  ask.     Xo 
The   Question   Le-   ^  j^  j^^  ^l^j^^j.^   ^^  ^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^  ^1^^ 

f'itimate.  ,     ,  ,  .  .,        rr^i       t  i 

matter,  can  help  asking  it.  ilie  idea 
that  every  effect  must  have  a  cause  is  an  intuitive,  univer- 
sal, irresistible,  necessary  Idea.  Hence  the  axiom,  J^x  j 
nihilo  nihil  Jit — "  From  nothing,  nothing  comes."  A 
causeless  effect  is  simply  unthinkable.  Keeping  in  mind, 
then,  this  fundamental,  irresistible  axiom — "  Every  effect 
must  have  a  cause  " — let  us  apply  it  to  the  topic  in  hand. 
Here  is  a  stupendously  measureless  effect :  what  caused  it  ? 
Not  one  man,  not  all  mankind  together,  with  the  most  per- 
fect machinery  conceivable,  can  make  one  solitary  atom  of 
matter.  Where,  then,  did  all  this  measureless,  unutter- 
able, inconceivable  quantity  of  matter  composing  this  ma- 
terial universe  come  from  ?  Suppose  you  say  it  came  from 
a  few  cells  or  germs,  or  perhaps  one.  That  does  not  an- 
swer the  question.  The  axiom,  "  Every  effect  must  have 
a  cause,"  implies  another  axiom :  "  Effects  are  proportional 
to  their  causes  " — that  is  to  say,  causes  are  measured  by 
their  effects.  If  the  whole  material  universe  came  from  a 
few  germs  ow^from  nothing  else,  then  the  weight  of  these 
germs  must  be  equal  to  the  weight  of  the  universe.  You 
cannot  get  out  of  a  thing  more  than  is  in  it.  It  is  a  maxim 
of  philosophy :  "  Evolution  implies  previous  involution." 
And  the  axiom  that  every  effect  must  have  an  adequate 
cause  demands  that  the  involution  be  equal  to  the  evolu- 
tion. You  cannot  evolve  what  was  not  involved.  Of 
'course,  I  do  not  deny  that  the  growth  of  the  acorn  into  the 
oak  is  in  a  certain  sense  an  evolution.  In  fact,  it  is  the 
evolution  which  is  the  secret  of  the  identity  of  acorn  and 
oak.  But,  then,  there  is  much  more  here  than  evolution, 
or  simple  unfolding  of  the  primal  germ  :  there  is  also  the 
accretion  of  external  material  around  the  genn  and  along 


40  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  axis  of  growth — this  added  material  coming  from  soil, 
water,  air,  etc.  It  is  the  accretion  which  is  the  secret  of 
the  incretion.  The  problem,  then,  is  to  account  not  only 
for  the  weight  of  the  acorn,  but  also  for  the  weight  of  the 
oak — the  vastly  larger  part  of  the  tree  never  having  been 
in  the  seed.  The  famous  Washington  Elm,  of  Cambridge, 
we  are  told,  yields  on  an  average,  say,  7,000,000  leaves, 
exposing  a  surface  of  200,000  square  feet ;  and  the  problem 
is  this  :  How  account  for  the  weight  of  the  seed  plus  the 
weight  of  the  root,  trunk,  and  five  acres  of  foliage  ?  How 
account  for  this  enonnous  mass  of  universe  matter,  ex- 
pressed in  terms  of  positive  weight,  on  the  theory  of  a  few 
microscopic  germs  ?  Observe,  the  question  is  not  concern- 
ing the  condition  or  arrangement  of  the  universe  ;  the 
question  is  concerning  its  origination.  Where  did  these 
supposed  germs  themselves  come  from  ?  In  short,  how 
account  for  the  weight  of  the  universe  ?  I  rej^eat,  it  is  a 
fair  question  to  ask.  The  fundamental,  universally-ac- 
knowledged, intuitively  -  j^erceived,  necessary  axiom, 
"  Every  effect  must  have  a  cause,"  proclaims  it  to  be  a  fair 
question.  .  Wlience,  tlien,  came  this  universe  of  matter — 
visible,  tangible,  ponderable  matter  ?  What  is  the  Origin 
of  this  material  Universe  ? 

Only  two  answers  are  possible. 
The  Answer  of  Logie.  The  first  is  this  :  Matter  never  had 
any  origin  at  all ;  it  has  always  existed. 
Such  was  the  opinion  of  the  ancient  sages.  Inexorably 
pressed  by  the  axiom,  Every  effect  must  have  a  cause,  tliey 
toiled  to  follow  up  the  line  of  effects  and  causes,  tracing  a 
given  effect  up  to  its  cause,  and  again  this  cause  as  the 
effect  of  a  preceding  cause,  and  still  again  this  preceding 
cause  as  the  effect  of  a  cause  still  preceding,  and  so  on  as 
far  as  they  could  go.     Unable  to  find  any  First,  Original 


GENESIS  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.  41 

Cause — in  other  words,  unable  to  find  tlic  place  and  time 
in  wliicli  matter  began  to  exist — they  were  driven  bj  our 
inexorable  axiom  to  the  theory  of  the  eternity  of  matter. 
It  is  the  one  and  only  conclusion  at  which  the  logician, 
trusting  solely  to  the  logical  processes  and  denying  mira- 
cles, can  possibly  amve. 

The  other  answer  is  the  first  verse 
Scripture  ^^  ^^^  Book  of  God  :  "In  the  begin- 

ning God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth."  ^  In  the  beginning,  before  aught  existed,  save  God 
Himself,  Elohim  created,  made  out  of  nothing,  made  with- 
out material,  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Ah,  here  comes 
out  the  infinite  difference  between  man  and  God :  Man  is 
only  a  builder,  constructing  with  materials ;  God  is  a  Cre- 
ator, constructing  without  materials.  God  creates  atoms; 
man  fashions  molecules. 

Thus  this  word  "  create  "  is  the  di- 

Grandeur  of    the  yjnest  word  in  language,  human  or  angel- 
Answer.  O     O  '  o 

ic.     It  is  the  august  separatrix  between 

the  creature  and  the  Creator,  between  the  finite  and  the  In- 
finite. It  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  pre-creative 
universe  of  nothing  and  the  post-creative  universe  of 
ever}i:hing.  The  pre-creative  eternity  is  sei3arated  from 
human  time  by  the  diameter  of  the  universe.  AVell,  then, 
may  our  text  stand  forth  as  the  opening  sentence  of  God's 
communication  to  man.  For  all  theology  is  wrapped  up 
in  this  one  simple,  majestic  word — Created.  It  gives  us  an 
Unbeginning,  Almighty,  Personal,  Self-conscious,  Yolun- 

'  True,  it  is  not  positively  certain  that  the  verb  bara  is  to  be  taken  in  the  strict,  techni- 
cal sense  of  absolute  origination.  It  is  possible  that  it  means  here,  as  generally  elsewhere, 
simply  a  process  of  forming,  arranging,  shaping  what  was  already  existing.  And  for  this 
self  conscious,  omniscient  Omnipotence  was  needed  hardly  less  than  for  an  absolute  origi- 
nation. In  all  events,  the  doctrine  of  Creation  seems  decisively  taught  in  Hebrews  .vi.  8: 
"  By  faith  we  imdcrstand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  Word  of  God,  so  that  things 
which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things  whicli  do  appear.'''' 


42  STUDIES  IN   THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

tary  God.  Before  tlie  mountcains  were  brouglit  fortli,  or 
ever  Tliou  liaclst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  even 
from  everksting  to  everlasting,  Thou  art  God  (Psalm  xc.  2). 
And  in  giving  us  an  Unbeginning,  Almighty,  Personal, 
Self-conscious,  Yoluntary  God,  it  gives  us  the  basis  for 
Religion,  the  comer-stone  for  Woi-ship.  Thou,  Thou  art 
Lord  alone.  Thou  hast  made  heaven,  the  heaven  of  heav- 
ens, with  all  their  host,  the  earth  and  all  that  is  ujoon  it, 
the  seas  and  all  that  is  in  them  ;  and  Thou  preservest 
them  all..  And  the  host  of  heaven  wors]iipj)eth  Thee 
(Nch.  iv.  c).  Yes,  "  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty, 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth." 

Kot  that  I  understand  the  Creative 

Creation  a  Problem     a     ,      -r       i     •,    .^     .    •.    '      •  i 

,    J,  . ,  Act ;  i  admit  that  it  is  mcomprelien- 

sible.  I  even  admit  tliat  it  directly 
conflicts  with  the  fundamental  axiom :  Out  of  nothing 
nothing  comes.  In  other  words,  I  admit  that  it  was  a 
miracle.  And  being  a  miracle,  of  course  I  cannot  under- 
stand it ;  nevertheless  I  believe  it.  Ah  !  this  word — 
believe — is  the  key.  Through  faith  we  understand  that 
the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  "Word  of  God,  so  that 
things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things  which  ap- 
peared (Heb.  si.  3).  Prof .  Tyndall,  in  liis  lecture  on  "  Mat- 
ter and  Force  "  to  the  workingmen  of  Dundee,  spoke  as 
follows  : 

"  While  I  make  the  largest  demand  for  freedom  of  inves- 
tigation— while  I  as  a  man  of  Science  feel  a  natural  pride  in 
scientific  achievement — while  I  regard  Science  as  the  most 
powerful  instrument  of  intellectual  culture,  as  well  as  the 
most  powerful  ministrant  to  the  material  wants  of  men — if 
you  ask  me  whether  Science  has  solved,  or  is  likely  in  our 
day  to  solve,  the  problem  of  this  Universe,  I  must  shake  my 
head  in  doubt.     You  remember  the  first  Napoleon's  question, 


GENESIS   OF   THE   UNIVERSE.  43 

wlicn  the  savants  who  accompanied  him  to  Egypt  discussed 
in  his  i^resence  the  origin  of  the  Universe,  and  solved  it  to 
their  own  apparent  satisfaction.  He  looked  aloft  to  the 
starry  heavens,  and  said,  '  It  is  all  very  well,  gentlemen  ;  but 
who  made  all  these  ? '  That  question  still  remains  unan- 
swered, and  Science  makes  no  attempt  to  answer  it.  As  far 
as  I  can  see,  there  is  no  quality  in  the  human  intellect  which 
is  fit  to  be  applied  to  the  solution  of  the  problem.  It  en- 
tirely transcends  us.  The  mind  of  man  may  be  compared  to 
a  musical  instrument  with  a  certain  range  of  notes,  beyond 
which  in  both  directions  we  have  an  infinitude  of  silence. 
The  phenomena  of  Matter  and  Force  lie  within  our  intellec- 
tual range,  and  as  far  as  they  reach  we  will  at  all  hazards 
push  our  inquiries.  But  behind,  and  above,  and  around  all, 
the  real  mystery  of  this  Universe  lies  unsolved,  and,  as  far 
as  Ave  are  concerned,  is  incapable  of  solution." 

Sad  words  these.  And  the  Professor  is  right  so  far  as 
he  goes.  But  why  does  he  not  go  further  ?  Why  does  he 
not  use  the  prerogative  of  exercising  a  loftier  faculty  than 
reason  ?  One  of  the  most  felicitous  instances  of  masterly ' 
diction  in  the  realm  of  Science  is  a  discourse  by  this  same 
Prof.  Tyndall,  delivered  before  the  British  Association  in 
1870,  entitled  "  The  Scientific  Use  of  the  Imagination." 
In  this,  as  often  elsewhere,  he  earnestly  bids  us  to  exercise 
the  power  of  "  visualizing  the  invisible."  That  is  to  say. 
he  bids  us  exercise  faith  in  the  unseen :  e.  g.,  w^e  are  to 
believe  in  atoms  though  we  have  never  seen  one.  Gentle- 
men of  the  Academy,  allow  me  also  the  Scientific  Use  of 
the  Imagination — that  is  to  say,  allow  me  the  prerogative 
of  faith :  for  Christian  faith  is  tlie  truest  instance  of  the 
Scientifi.c  Use  of  the  Imagination.  Where  Reason  is 
blind,  Faith  can  see.  Faith  is  the  lens  through  which  we 
perceive  that  the  worlds  were  created  by  the  Word  of  God. 


44  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Ah,  Faitli  it  is  wliicli  sees  an  otherwise  Invisible,  Personal, 
Almighty,  Infinite,  Free  God — Himself  His  own  law — 
ever  and  anon  striding  forth  on  a  plane  above  what  we 
call  IN'atnre,  as  when  in  the  primeval  realm  of  absolute 
Sj)ace  He  caused  to  come  into  existence  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  Believe  in  that  first  of  all  miracles,  the  miracle 
of  Creation ;  and  you  can  believe  in  the  miracles  of  Incar- 
nation, Kesurrection,  Ascension,  Parousia.  This  word — 
Paith — then  is  the  motto  inscribed  on  the  very  threshold 
of  the  Temple  of  Truth.  The  very  first  question  in  phi- 
losophy is  this  :  What  is  the  origin  of  things  ?  The  very 
first  statement  of  the  Bible  is  an  answer  to  this  question ; 
an  answer  simple,  unequivocal,  exhaustive,  majestic.  Thus 
the  very  first  summons  of  the  God  of  JSTature  to  the  stu- 
dent of  His  Works  is  a  summons  to  an  act  of  Faith.  And 
to  him  who  honestly  obeys  that  summons.  Creation  shall 
prove  to  be  in  very  deed  an  Apocalypse  of  Deity ;  and  so 
of  Duty.' 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Universe.     Two 
thoughts  in  conclusion. 

1  How  wise  the  words  of  Francis  Bacon  :  "  It  is  an  assured  truth  and  a  conclusion  ol 
experience,  that  a  little  or  superficial  knowledge  of  philosophy  may  incline  the  mind  of 
man  to  atheism,  but  a  further  proceeding  therein  doth  bring  the  mind  back  again  to  relig- 
ion :  for  in  the  entrance  of  philosophy,  when  the  second  causes,  which  are  next  unto  the 
senses,  do  offer  themselves  to  the  mind  of  man,  if  it  dwell  and  stay  there,  it  may  induce 
some  oblivion  of  the  highest  cause :  but  when  a  man  passeth  on  further,  and  seeth  the 
dependence  of  causes  and  the  works  of  Providence,  then,  according  to  the  allegory  of 
the  poets,  he  will  easily  believe  that  the  highest  link  of  Nature's  chain  must  needs  be  tied 
to  the  foot  of  Jupiter's  chair."— ("Advanoement  of  Learning,"  Book  I.) 

How  poetic  the  words  of  Augustine :  "  I  asked  the  earth,  and  it  answered, '  I  am  not 
lie;'  and  whatsoever  are  therein  made  the  same  confession.  I  asked  the  sea  and  the 
deep,  and  the  creeping  things  that  lived,  and  they  replied :  '  We  are  not  thy  God  ;  seek 
higher  than  we.'  I  asked  the  breezy  air,  and  the  universal  air  with  its  inhabitants  an- 
swered: '  Anix.amenes  was  deceived.  I  am  not  God.'  I  asked  the  heavens,  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars:  'Neither,"  say  they,  'are  we  the  God  whom  thou  scckest.'  And  I 
answered  unto  all  tliesc  things  which  stood  about  the  door  of  my  flesh:  '  Ye  have  told  me 
something  concerning  my  God,  that  ye  are  not  He:  tell  me  something  about  Uim.'  And 
with  a  loud  voice  they  exclaimed :  '  lie  made  us.'— ("  Confessions,"'  Book  X.,  Chapter 
VIII.,  Paragraph  9.) 


GENESIS  OF   THE   UNIVERSE.  45 

And,  first :  Why  did  God  create  the 

Final  Cause  of  Cre-  ,      •   i        •  q      t    i.  i.   ^ 

material  universe  i    Let  us  not  be  wise 

ation.  ,  , 

above  what  is  wiitten.  And  yet  I  can- 
not help  thinking  that  there  is  a  reason  for  the  Creation  in 
the  very  constitution  of  our  spiritual  nature.  We  need 
the  excitation  of  sensible  objects.  We  need  a  material 
arena  for  self -discipline.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  receive 
our  moral  training  for  eternity  in  the  School  of  Matter. 
It  is  the  material  world  around  us,  coming  into  contact 
with  our  moral  personalities  through  the  senses  of  touch- 
ing and  seeing  and  hearing  and  tasting,  which  tests  our 
moral  character.  And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  way  in 
which  we  are  impressed  by  every  object  we  consciously 
see  or  touch  probes  us,  and  will  testify  for  us  or  against  us 
on  the  Great  Day.  But  while  this  is  one  of  the  proximate 
causes  of  the  Creation,  the  Final  Cause  is  the  Glory  of 
God.  It  is  the  majestic  mirror  from  which  we  see  His  in- 
visible things,  even  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead  (Rom.  i. 
20).  May  it  be  for  us  evermore  to  join  with  the  Living 
Creatures  and  the  Elders  of  the  Apocalypse  in  falling 
down  before  Him  Who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  liveth 
for  ever  and  ever,  and  in  chanting  :  "  Thou  ai-t  worthy,  O 
Lord  God,  to  receive  the  glory  and  the  honor  and  the 
might ;  for  Thou  didst  create  all  things,  and  for  Thy 
pleasure  they  are,  and  were  created"  (Rev.  iv.  9-1 1). 

Finally :  this  doctrine  of  the  Crea- 
A  rersonal  Exhor-  ^-^^  -^  ^  ^loctrine  well  suited  to  fill  us 

with  deepest  sentiments  of  humility, 
reverence,  and  adoration.  A  God  strong  enough  to  create 
is  a  God  strong  enough  to  annihilate.  Presume  not  then 
to  persist  in  any  state  of  rebellion,  in  any  act  of  disobedi- 
ence. Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trem- 
bling (Psalm  ii.  11).     Enter  into  and  abide  in  the  spirit  of 


46  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Claudius  Galenus,  the  illustrious  physician  of  ancient  Per- 
gamos,  who  was  wont  to  speak  of  his  vocation  and  work  as 
"a  religious  hymn  in  honor  of  the  Creator."  Let  Him 
who  spake,  and  it  was — who  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast 
(Psalm  xxxii.  9) — be  the  Object  of  your  supreme  and  ceaseless 
allegiance,  homage,  and  trust.  For  the  Lord  is  a  great 
God,  and  a  great  King  above  all  Gods.  In  His  hand  are 
the  deep  places  of  the  earth ;  the  strength  of  the  hills  is 
His  also.  The  sea  is  His,  and  He  made  it :  and  His  hands 
formed  the  dry  land.  O  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow 
do^vn :  let  us  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  Maker.  For  He 
is  our  God :  and  we  are  the  people  of  His  pasture,  and  the 
sheep  of  His  hand  (Psalm  xcv.  3-7).  For  from  Him,  and 
through  Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all  things  (Rom.  xi.  36). 

Glory  be  to  the  Father  and  to  the  Son  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUEE  III. 


GENESIS     OF     ORDER, 


"  And  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  .And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the 
face  of  the  waters." — Genesis  i.  2. 

I.— Explanation          First  of  all,  let  us  attend  to  the  Ex- 
of  the  Passage.         planation  of  the  Passage. 

And,   first,   the    Primeval    Chaos : 
1.— The  Primeval  "  Now  the  earth  was  waste  and  empty, 
Chaos.  and  darkness  was  over  the  face  of  the 

abyss." 

At  the  very  outset,  an  interesting 

a. — Oriprin  of  Chaos.  , .  .  -itt-        ,-,  ■      y--,!  .i 

"  question  anses.      Was  this  (  liaos  the 

oriiiinal  condition  of  matter  as  it  came  direct  from  the 
Creator's  hand,  or  was  it  the  wreck  of  an  earlier  world  ? 
It  must  be  confessed  that  certain  things  seem  to  indicate — 
at  least,  at  first  sight — that  the  latter  was  the  fact.  First : 
God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace  (i  Cor.  xiv. 
33) ;  whatever  He  creates  is  perfect.  Again  :  the  words 
tohu  and  lo/m,  rendered  "  without  form  and  void,"  liter- 
ally mean  wasteness  and  desolation.  The  expression  is 
often  appHed  to  ruined  cities  and  territories.  Two  pas- 
sages are  remarkably  in  point.  Isaiah,  speaking  of  the 
coming  judgment  on  Idumea,  says  :  "  The  cormorant  and 


43  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  bittern  shall  possess  it,  the  owl  also  and  the  raven 
shall  dwell  in  it,  and  He  \nll  stretch  out  upon  it  the  line 
of  confusion  and  the  stones  of  emptiness"  (l=.  xxxiv.  ii) ;  the 
words  rendered  "  confusion  and  emptiness  "  are  precisely 
the  same  as  those  rendered  in  our  passage  "  without  form 
and  void."     According  to  the  prophet,  Idumea  was  to  be 
devoted  to  devastation  and  destruction.    So  also  Jeremiah, 
foretelling  the  ruin    that  would  come  upon    Judea,  ex- 
claims :  '•  I  looked  upon  the  land,  and,  lo,  it  was  with- 
out form  and  void ;   I  looked  to  the  heavens,  and  they 
gave  their  light  no  more  ;  I  looked  to  the  mountains,  and, 
lo,  they  trembled  ;  I  looked,  and,  lo,  there  was  no  man,  ■ 
and  all  the  birds  of  the  air  had  fled ;  I  looked,  and,  lo,  the 
fruitful  land  had  been  turned  into  the  desert,  and  all  its 
citias  were  broken  down  before  the  fury  of  Jehovah's  an- 
ger "  (Jer.  iv.  23-26).     It  scemed  to  the  prophet  a  real  re- 
turn to  the  ancient  realm  of  Chaos.     Again  :  this  opinion 
was  held  by  some  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  e.  g.,  the  Greg- 
ory's, Basil,  Augastine,  etc.     Again  :  it  seem.s  to  be  con- 
firmed by  alleged  scientific  facts,  particularly  the  geologic 
doctrine  of  Catastrophes,  many  of  which  are  supposed  by 
some  scientists  to  have  occurred  in  the  immense  interv'al 
between  Creation  and   Chaos,  and  during  Chaos  itself. 
Once  more :  it  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  present  terresti-ial 
changes,  e.  g.,  recomposition  out  of  decomposition,  as  the 
harvest  out  of  the  djang  seed.     Such  are  some  of  the  rea- 
sons whir-h  have  inclined  some  scientists,  e.  g.,  Buckland, 
Sedg^vick,  Hitchcock,  etc.,  and  many  theologians,  e.  g., 
Chalmers,  McCaul,  Wordsworth,  etc.,  to  the  opinion  that 
Chaos  was  the  wreck  of  an  earlier  world. 

Nevertheless,  although  this  opinion  seems  plausible, 
and  although  it  is  maintained  by  scholars  entitled  to  our 
respect,  it  lies  open  to  grave  objections.     First :  it  does  not 


GENESIS  OF   ORDER.  49 

seem  to  be  in  hannony  with  the  scope  of  the  Sacred  Nar-  \  I ) 
rator ;  he  is  giving  us  the  history  of  the  Creation  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  not  of  tlieir  reconstruction.  Again : 
it  introduces  an  unwarrantable  or  at  least  apparently  arbi- 
trary break  between  the  first  and  second  verses — that  is  to 
say — between  Creation  and  Chaos.  Again  :  instead  of  3 ) 
l)eing  sustained  by  the  geologic  records,  it  seems  to  be  in 
direct  conflict  with  them.  Once  more  :  it  is  opposed  to  -// 
God's  usual  method  of  working ;  that  method  is  inchoa- 
tive, that  is  to  say,  a  method  of  progress,  from  small  to 
vast,  from  embryo  to  fruition,  from  homogeneousness  to 
heterogeneousness,  or  rather  from  homogeneousness  to  di- 
versity, and  through  diversity  to  unity  in  diversity.  For 
these  reasons  I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  the  Chaos  of 
the  original  clenicnts  not  less  than  the  Creation  of  them 
was  the  direct  issue  of  the  Creative  "Will ;  that  is  to  say, 
God  created  the  atoms  of  the  Universe,  starting  with 
them  in  a  chaotic  state.  It  was  an  instance  of  the  truth 
to  which  I  shall  advert  later  on :  All  progress  begins  in 
Chaos. 
,     „  And  now  glance  for  a  moment  at 

0. — Picture  of  Chaos.    , ,  .         .  ,  ^i 

this  primeval  Chaos. 
All  the  elements  which  now  exist,  were  doubtless 
there  ;  but  all  were  out  of  relation.  Far  as  the  eye  could 
pierce,  not  a  thing  of  life  or  beauty  or  definite  form  re- 
deemed a  single  point  in  the  monstrous  waste.  And 
over  this  wild,  stnicturelcss,  desolate  abyss  rested  the  pall 
of  blackness.  In  short,  earth  Avas  that  heterogeneous 
mass  of  inextricable  confusion  which  the  ancients  called 

Chaos. 

" ....  A  dark 
Illimitable  ocean,  without  bound. 
Without  dimension,  where  length,  breadth,  and  height, 
And  time,  and  place,  arc  lost;  where  Eldest  Night 
3 


50  STUDIES   IN    THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

And  Chaos,  ancestors  of  Nature,  bold 

Eternal  anarchy,  amidst  the  noise 

Of  endless  wars,  and  by  confusion  stand  ; 

For  hot,  cold,  moist,  and  dry,  four  champions  fierce, 

Strive  here  for  mastery,  and  to  battle  bring 

Their  enibryon  atoms." — ("  Pakadise  Lost,"  ii.  891-900.) 

Strikingly  similar  is  tlie  description  by  tlic  heatlien 
poet  Ovid : 

"  Ere  sea,  or  land,  or  sky,  that  covers  all, 
Existed,  over  all  of  Nature's  round 
One  face  there  was,  which  men  have  Chaos  named — 
A  rude,  unfatbomed  mass,  with  naught  save  weight : 
And  here  were  heaped  tlie  jarring  elcTuents 
Of  ill-connected  things.     No  sun  as  yet 
His  rays  afforded  to  the  world  ;  the  moon 
Filled  not  afresh  her  horns  by  monthly  growth; 
Nor  hung  the  globe  in  circumambient  air, 
Poised  by  its  balanced  weight:  nor  had  the  sea 
Reached  forth  its  arms  along  the  distant  shore : 
No  land  to  stand  upon,  no  wave  to  swim, 
And  rayless  air.     Nothing  preserved  its  form  : 
Each  thing  opposed  the  rest ;  since  in  one  frame 
The  cold  with  hot  things  fought,  the  moist  with  dry, 
The  soft  with  hard,  and  light  with  heavy  things." 

— ("  Metamorphoses,"  i.  5.) 

Tme,  there  is  a  large  accretion  here  to  the  primeval 
Creation  Archive  as  transmitted  to  us  by  Moses.  Never- 
theless, recalling  what  was  said  in  our  Introductory  Lect- 
ure respecting  the  wide-spread,  venerable  traditions  touch- 
ing the  primeval  condition  of  the  globe,  who  does  not  feel 
that  Ovid  obtained  his  clew  from  that  hoary  Creation  Ar- 
chive ? 

And  what  Moses  says  touching  the 

r.-Confirmationof  origin.^  condition  of  the  globe.  Modern 

'  ^^^^'"'^-  Science  tends  in  a  remarkable  way  to 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  51 

eclio.  If  the  magnificent  Nebular  IIypotlie?is  of  tlie  as- 
tronomers— first  propounded  by  Swedenborg,  adoj)ted  by 
Kant,  elaborated  by  Laplace  and  Herscliel,  and  main- 
tained with  modifications  by  such  scientists  as  Cuvier, 
Humboldt,  Arago,  Dana,  and  Guyot — be  true,  there  has 
been  a  time  when  the  Earth,  and  indeed  the  whole  Uni- 
verse, was  in  a  state  of  nebula,  or  chaotic  gaseous  fluid. 
As  such,  the  Earth  was  indeed  without  form  and  void,  and 
darkness  was  on  the  face  of  the  deep.  Being  in  a  gaseous 
state,  it  was  "  without  form  and  void  ; "  being  as  yet  in 
an  inactive  state,  it  was  "  dark  ; "  being  in  a  state  of  in- 
definite expansion,  it  was  a  "  deep."  Thus  wonderfully 
does  the  hoariest  specimen  of  human  literature  keep  pace 
with  the  mightiest  generalization  of  the  latest  science. 
Not  that  Moses  knew  anything  about  the  Nebular  Hy- 
pothesis ;  though  he  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians  (Acts  vii.  32),  he  probably  knew  nothing  of  gravi- 
tation or  chemical  atoms.  He  was  inspired  indeed.  But 
inspiration  is  not  omniscience.  And  yet,  as  wonderful 
time  rolls  on,  and  Almighty  God,  through  the  agency  of 
human  discoveries,  keeps  unfolding  the  truths  hidden  in 
His  holy  Word  from  the  beginning,  inspiration  does  prac- 
tically take  on  more  and  more  the  giant  outlines  of  Omnis- 
cience. The  stoutest  defender  of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis 
could  hardly  find  more  telling  words  for  his  theory  than 
these  :  "  Without  form,  void,  dark,  deep."  Here,  then,  is 
the  skeptic's  harassing  trilemma.  He  must  either  admit, 
first,  that  Moses  was  inspired,  and  therefore,  whether  con- 
sciously to  himself  or  not  it  matters  not,  spoke  the  truth, 
and  therefore  ought  to  be  acknowledged  as  one  of  God's 
authoritative  spokesmen ;  or,  secondly,  he  must  admit  that 
Moses  has  made  an  exceedingly  happy  hit — a  circumstance 
which  will  grow  more  and  more  wonderful  when  we  note,  j 


\ 


52  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

as  we  shall  see  ere  we  are  through,  how  many  such  remark- 
ably "  happy  hits  "  he  makes  in  this  Creation  Narrative  ; 
or,  thirdly,  he  must  admit  that  Moses,  though  living  in  that 
far-off,  unscientific  antiquity,  was  as  profound  a  scientist  as 
himself,  and  therefore  is  entitled  to  be  enrolled  with  the 
Newtons  and  Cuviers,  the  Ilumboldts  and  Tyndalls,  of  the 
modern  Academy.  Whichever  horn  of  the  trilemma  our 
friend  takes,  he,  so  long  as  he  is  a  skeptic,  impales  himself. 
No,  gentlemen,  the  God  Who  reigned  over  Nature  when 
it  was  without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness  was  on  the 
face  of  the  deep,  is  the  same  God  Who  dictated  the  First 
Two  Chapters  of  Genesis. 

And  now  we  pass  to  ponder,  second- 
2.— The  Organiz-  ly,  the  Organizing  Energy:  "And  the 

ing  Energy.  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of 

the  waters." 
«.— The  Breath  of         "  The  Spirit  of  God."    It  is  the  first 

^^^-  time  that  this  remarkable  expression  oc- 

curs in  Holy  Writ.  Let  us  dwell  on  it  a  moment.  The 
word  here  rendered  "  Spirit "  primarily  means  "  breath, 
wind,"  etc.,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  often  thus  trans- 
lated. Take  a  few  examples  :  "  The  Lord  God  formed 
the  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  brcatlied  into 
his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  " — inbreathed,  inspired,  in- 
spirited him  with  spirit  (Gen.  ii.  1).  "  They  heard  the  voice 
of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden,  in  the  cool" — the 
breeze,  the  spirit — of  the  day  (Gen.  iii.  8).  "  Moses  stretched 
out  his  hand  over  the  sea ;  and  the  Lord  caused  the  sea  to 
go  back  by  a  strong  east  wind — spirit — all  that  night " 
(Ex.  xiv.  21).  "  By  the  blast  of  the  breath — spirit — of  Thy 
nostrils,  the  waters  were  heaped  up  "  (Ex.  xv.  8).  "  By  His 
spirit — breath — the  heavens  were  garnished  "  (Job  xxvi.  13). 
"  There  is  a  spirit — breath — in  man,  and  the  inspiration, 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  53 

inbreathing,  of  the  Almighty,  giveth  him  understanding  " 
(Job  xxxii.  8).  "  By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens 
made,  and  all  their  host  by  the  breath — spirit — of  His 
mouth  "  (Psalm  xxxiii.  6).  "  Thou  takest  away  their  breath — 
spirit :  they  die  and  return  to  their  dust :  "  "  Thou  sendest 
forth  Thy  spirit — breath — they  are  created,  and  Thou  re- 
newest  the  face  of  the  earth  "  (Psalm  civ.  29,  30),  "  He  took 
her  by  the  hand,  and  called,  saying,  Maid,  arise,  and  her 
spirit — breath — came  again,  and  she  arose  straightway  " 
(Luke  viii.  54,  55).  "  When  Jesus  had  received  the  vinegar, 
He  said.  It  is  finished,  and  He  bowed  His  head,  and 
gave  up  the  ghost — spirit,  breath  "  (John  xix.  30).  "  Then 
will  the  wicked  one  be  revealed,  w^hom  the  Lord  will  con- 
sume with  the  spirit — breath — of  His  mouth,  and  destroy 
with  the  brightness  of  His  coming  "  (2  Th.  ii.  8).  And  God 
has  been  pleased  to  move  the  writere  of  His  Scripture 
to  take  air  as  the  emblem  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  I  know 
not  why  He  was  pleased  to  do  this,  unless  it  be  because 
of  the  peculiar  properties  of  air :  a  substance  invisible, 
yet  diffusive,  subtilely  permeating,  animating,  quickening, 
inspiring,  forceful.  I  only  know  that  He  has  chosen  air 
as  the  symbol  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Listen  to  a  few  ex- 
amples :  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
Cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit  — AVind,  Breath"  (John  iii.  8).  "He 
breathed  on  them,  and  saith  to  them,  Eeceive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost — breath  "  (John  xx.  22).  "  Suddenly  there  came 
a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a  rashing  mighty  wind,  and 
it  filled  all  the  house  where  they  were  sitting  .... 
and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit — breath" 

(Acts  ii.  2-4). 


54  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

I  ■svould  not  be  presumptuous.     At 

6. -Moved    over   ^^^^   ^^^^^^  ^-^^^^  j  ^^^^^^   |^^  ^^^^^   ^^   ^j^^ 

the     Face    of     the    ^  ,    ^  ,    .  ,  . 

Pjjjjjg  bacred  fetorj  we  are  studying,  seeking 

to  unfold  it  as  the  Sacred  AVriter  liiin- 
sclf  meant  it.  And,  therefore,  I  must  say  I  can  hardly 
think  that  in  using  the  phrase,  "  The  Spirit  of  God,"  he 
meant  any  distinct  reference  to  the  Third  Person  of  the 
Blessed  and  Adorable  Trinity.  For  God's  method  of 
Revelation  has  ever  been  progressive ;  and  His  disclosure 
of  the  peculiar  relations  of  the  Godhead  is  among  His 
latest  revelations.  Eemember  the  meaning  of  the  word 
translated  Spirit :  it  means  breath.  The  Breath  of  God 
moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters.  Kemember,  also,  that 
we  are  here  moving  in  the  range  of  transcendent  facts, 
where  the  language  must  be  more  or  less  figurative.  He- 
member,  also,  that  the  emphatic  word,  here  and  throughout 
this  Creation  Record,  is  the  word — God.  God  it  was 
AVho  created  the  elements  of  the  Universe.  God  it  was 
Who  shaped  the  elements  of  the  Universe  into  the  heavens 
and  the  earth.  God  it  was  Who,  to  use  the  language  of 
modern  Christian  Science,  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the 
original,  relationless  atoms  of  the  primeval  chaotic  fluids 
to  form  into  definite  groups.  God  it  was  Wlio,  to  use  tlie 
artless  language  of  the  ancients,  breathed  on  the  chaotic 
elements,  and  wafted  them  into  order.  In  either  case,  God 
it  was  Who  shaped  Chaos  into  Cosmos.  The  ancient  be- 
liever said  :  "  The  Breath  of  God  moved  on  the  face  of 
the  waters."  The  modern  believer  says  :  "  God  willed 
that  atoms  should  group  into  molecules,  and  molecules  into 
masses."  In  other  words,  the  language  of  the  ancient  was 
phenomenal,  the  language  of  the  modern  is  scientific ;  and, 
although  believing  the  latter,  I  still  suspect  that,  in  the 
vision  of  the  Omniscient  One  AVho  sees  behind  our  Sci- 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  55 

ences,  i.  e.,  our  notions  of  things,  the  old  pictorial  language 
is  quite  as  true  as  the  new  philosophic.  What  the  precise 
thing  was  which  was  effected  when  the  Breath  of  God 
moved  on  the  face  of  the  fluids,  I  know  not.  Perhaps  it 
was  the  endowing  the  atoms  with  the  quantitative  force  of 
gravity,  and  the  qualitative  forces  of  chemism.  But  I  am 
not  here  to  deliver  a  scientific  lecture.  I  am  here  to  ex- 
pound, as  best  I  may,  the  Mosaic  Record  of  the  Creation. 
And  the  truth  we  have  in  hand  to-day  is  this :  God's  Will 
it  was  that  turned  Chaos  into  Cosmos. 

^  .  .     ,  ,.,  And  iust  here  it  is  that  the  believer 

Ongm  of  Life.  •*        .         .  1       -,  -,     .  rr^, 

crosses  swords  with   the  atheist.     The 

great  question  of  to-day  in  this  department  of  thought  is 
this:  Is  the  universe  "a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms," 
chancing  to  come  under  the  reign  of  an  impersonal,  unfree, 
unforeseeing,  goalless  Force  ?  Or  is  it  the  work  of  a  per- 
eonal,  free,  creative,  previsional,  jiurposeful,  living  God? 
In  briefest  words :  Is  nature  self-operant  ?  or  is  it  God- 
operant  ?  Let  me  put  the  problem  concretely,  although,  in 
doing  so,  I  anticipate  a  point  which  will  recur  later  on  in 
this  series.  The  most  fascinating,  baffling  enigma  of  to- 
day is  this  :  The  Origin  of  Life.  How  shall  we  bridge  the 
measureless  chasm  between  dead  matter  and  living  matter, 
between  chox  as  an  inorganic  corpse  and  chon  as  an  or- 
ganic person  ?  What  is  that  subtile,  potent  thing,  vaguely 
called  Principle  of  Life,  Vital  Force,  etc.,  which,  enshrined 
in  the  apparently  structureless,  dead  centre  of  a  micro- 
scopic cell,  suddenly  quickens  it,  endows  it  with  energy, 
makes  it  a  living,  growing,  parental  thing  ?  This  is  the 
problem  over  which  some  of  the  keenest-eyed  of  the  race 
are  poring  with  intensest  gaze.  Need  I  say  that  they  are 
gazing  in  vain  ?  Yet  it  need  not  be  so.  Long  ages  ago, 
when  Humanity  was  yet  young,  an  Oriental  Emir,  pastur- 


56  STUDIES   IX   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

ing  liis  flocks  amid  the  oases  of  Arabia  Deserta,  solved  tlie 
problem.  Listen  :  "  The  Spirit  of  God  made  me,  and  the 
Breath  of  the  Almighty  gave  me  life  "  (Job  xxxiii.  4).  And 
centuries  afterward,  in  a  fair  territory  hard  by,  a  Psalm- 
ist, addressing  that  Divine  Spirit  from  Whose  jDresence 
he  declared  himself  unable  to  flee,  adoringly  exclaims  in 
words  marvelously  scientific  :  "  I  will  praise  Thee,  for 
I  am  fearfully,  wonderfully  made  :  my  substance  was  not 
hidden  from  Thee,  when  I  was  made  in  secret,  curiously 
wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth  :  Thine  eyes  did 
see  my  substance  yet  being  unperfect — my  unformed,  un- 
stnictured  substance  ;  and  in  Thy  book  all  my  members 
were  written  ;  day  by  day  were  they  fashioned,  when  there 
was  none  of  them  "  (Psalm  cxxxix.  14-16).  Gentlemen  of  the 
laboratory,  go  on  with  your  investigations.  Ye  are  en- 
gaged in  a  noble  service.  From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I 
say,  God  bless  you,  and  make  you  successful  in  unravel- 
ing many  another  sublime  secret  of  nature  !  But,  gentle- 
men, I  prophesy  one  thing  :  No  matter  how  perfect  your 
instruments,  how  keen  your  vision,  how  splendid  your 
genius,  no  instrument  of  yours  will  ever  detect  the  Secret 
of  Life.  For  that  Secret  is  not  material ;  it  is  spiritual, 
and  therefore  forever  and  for  evermore  beyond  the  range 
of  microscope.  Ah,  ye  materialists,  ye  Haeckels  and  Mole- 
schotts  and  Feuerbachs  and  Vogts,  fancying  that  ye  "  dis- 
cern in  matter  the  promise  and  potency  of  every  form  and 
quality  of  life,"  yet  unable,  with  all  your  science  and  all 
your  appliances,  to  turn  a  single,  definite,  dead  set  of  mole- 
cules into  a  lowest  living  organism,  come  with  me,  and  I 
will  show  you  when  and  where  and  how  life  originates. 
Bring  along  with  you  the  whole  of  your  apparatus,  for  I 
think  ye  will  need  it  all.  And  now  visit  with  me  the  ven- 
erable Prophet  of  the  Euphrates.     Following  his  lead,  we 


GENESIS   OF  ORDER.  57 

go  down  into  one  of  the  great  valleys  of  Babylonia.  All 
aronnd  ns  lies  a  vast  host  of  fleshless,  unburied,  dismem- 
bered skeletons.  A  voice  is  borne  down  to  us  as  though 
from  the  skies :  "  Son  of  man,  can  these  dry  bones  live  'i " 
"  Oh  yes,"  answer  our  materialistic  friends ;  "  we  have 
brouo-ht  our  retorts  and  crucibles  and  reagents  and  bat- 
teries and  tables  of  chemical  equivalents,  and  we  propose 
to  redeem  the  promise  of  life  lurking  in  these  skeletons ; 
we  propose  to  evolve  the  potency  of  life  ensconced  in 
these  bones."  And  so  I  see  you  setting  to  work  imme- 
diately, consulting  your  tables,  arranging  your  reagents, 
igniting  your  blow-pipes,  connecting  your  galvanic  cur- 
rents, adjusting  your  microscopes.  And  lo,  I  confess, 
there  is  a  sound,  and  a  shaking,  and  a  coming  together  of 
bones,  bone  to  its  bone ;  and  lo,  something  that  looks  like 
a  sinew  does  come  upon  them,  and  something  that  loofe 
like  skin  does  cover  them  ;  but,  strange  to  say,  there  is  no 
breath  in  them.  What  tliough  the  skeletons  have  been 
articulated  and  enfleshed  ?  They  are  still  only  corpses. 
Ah,  gentlemen  of  the  laboratory,  do  not  look  so  blank  ! 
for  do  ye  not  believe  in  Baal,  the  Sun-god,  Nature's  grand 
Yivifier  I  "Wonderful  he  is ;  but  possibly  he  is  meditat- 
ing, or  has  stepped  aside,  or  is  on  a  journey,  or  peradven- 
ture  he  is  asleep,  and  must  be  awaked  (l  Kings  xviii.  18). 
Cry  then  louder,  and  arrest  his  notice.  And  so  I  see  you 
leaping  on  his  altar,  trying  this  and  that  reagent,  hurry- 
ing to  the  microscope,  shouting  to  Great  Baal  even  "  from 
dewy  morn  to  stilly  eve."  And  yet  there  is  no  breath  in 
these  enfleshed  skeletons ;  they  are  still  only  prone,  mo- 
tionless, white  cadavers.  Again  a  voice  is  borne  down  to 
us  from  the  skies  :  "  Son  of  man,  can  these  bones  live  ? " 
I  look  at  my  materialistic  friends,  and  they  turn  away 
from  their  table  of  chemical  equivalents,  and  are  silent. 


58  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

I  look  lip  to  the  heaven  of  heavens,  and  I  reverently  an- 
swer :  ''  O  Lord  God,  Thou  knowest ;  the  God  that  an- 
swereth  by  lire  from  heaven,  let  Ilim  be  God."  And 
now  is  borne  down  to  ns,  as  from  the  very  throne  of  the 
King  Eternal,  Invisible,  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the 
Life-giving  Yoice  :  "  Prophesy  to  the  AVind,  Son  of  man, 
prophesy,  and  say  to  the  Wind  :  Thns  saith  the  Lord  God  : 
Come  Thou  from  the  four  winds,  O  Breath,  and  breathe 
upon  these  dead,  that  they  may  live."  I  homagefully 
obey  ;  and  lo,  the  Breath  instantly  comes  into  them,  and 
they  are  aliv^e,  and  stand  on  their  feet,  an  exceeding  great 
army  (Ez.  xxxvii.  l-io).  Ah,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy, 
there  is  the  key  to  the  Problem  of  Life !  It  is  not  in  any 
material  atom,  any  molecular  arrangement,  any  chemi- 
cal interplay,  any  convertibility  of  Force  ;  it  is  in  the 
Spirit  of  the  hving  God,  the  inspiration  of  the  Ancient  of 
Days,  the  inbreathing  of  the  Father  of  Spirits.  Ay,  the 
Patriarch  of  Arabia  was  right :  "  The  Spirit  of  God  made 
mo,  and  the  Breath  of  the  Almighty  hath  given  me  life  " 
(Job  xxxili.  4).  That  is  the  Secret  of  all  life — life  human, 
animal,  vegetal.  That  is  the  vitalizing  Force  of  the  bio- 
plast, the  Vis  Formatlm,  the  Quickening,  Plastic  Energy 
of  tlie  Universe.  And  that  Energy,  as  our  passage  in- 
forais  us,  was  at  work  from  the  beginning.  "  The  earth 
was  without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness  was  on  the  face 
of  the  deep ;  and  the  Breath  of  God  moved  over  the  face 
of  the  fluids."  In  some  sense  and  way,  chemically  inscru- 
table to  us,  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  Heavenly  Wind,  the 
Divine  Breath,  hovered  over  ancient  Chaos,  quickening, 
marshaling,  coordinating,  organizing  its  motley,  chaotic 
atoms,  breathing  over  the  wild,  desolate,  ebon  immensity 
His  own  Energy  of  life  and  order  and  unity  and  peace  and 
beauty.     Great  poets  arc  ever,  even  though  unconsciously 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  59 

to  themselves,  great  pliilosopliers.  And  the  Bard  of  "  Para- 
dise Lost "  is  alike  Scrij^turally  and  scientilicallj  right  when, 
invoking  the  Spirit  of  God  as  his  muse,  he  sings  : 

"  TIiou  from  the  first 
"Wast  present,  and  with  mighty  wings  outspread 
Dove-like  satst  hrooding  on  the  vast  abyss, 
And  mad'st  it  pregnant." — ("  Paradise  Lost,"  i.  19-22.) 

Ay,  Gentlemen  of  the  Materialistic  Pliilosophy,  you 
may  believe,  if  you  choose,  in  the  Universe  as  a  self-con- 
structed, self-running  machine  :  I  jDrefer  to  believe  in  it 
as  the  Breath  of  God. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  Order. 
II.— Moral  Mean-  And  now  let  us  attend  to  the  Moral 

ing  of  the  Story.       Meaning  of  the  Story. 

.„T.r  ,     .  And,  first:  all  life  begins  chaotic- 

1. — AH  Life  begins  .  ^ 

chaotically.  ^^^7-     ^^  ^^  ^rue  of  physical  life.     Look 

at  this  bioplast ;  the  most  powerful  mi- 
croscope fails  to  detect  in  it  nmch  sign  of  system,  or  struct- 
ure :  the  most  that  it  detects  is  a  tiny  g.  ouping  of  seem- 
ingly unarranged,  chaotic  material ;  in  fact,  so  structureless 
does  it  seem,  that  the  microscope  declines  to  prophesy 
whether  it  will  unfold  into  a  cedar,  an  elephant,  or  a  man. 
Again :  it  is  true  of  intellectual  life.  Look  at  this  new- 
born infant :  how  nebulous  and  chaotic  its  conceptions ! 
Your  little  one  may  grow  into  a  Shakesj^eare ;  but  at  pres- 
ent, and  intellectually  surveyed — forgive  me,  fond  mother, 
for  saying  it — your  little  one  is  scarcely  more  than  a  little 
animal.  Do  we  not  apply  indiscriminately  to  infants  and 
animals  the  impersonal  pronoun  "  it  ? "  Once  more  :  it  is 
true  of  moral  life.  That  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual, 
but  that  which  is  natural :  then  that  which  is  s])iritual 
(Cor.  XV.  46).     Look  at  Humanity  as  a  whole,  and  through 


60  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  ages,  ancient,  mediaeval,  modern.  How  vast  but  abor- 
tive its  endeavors !  How  besmeared  its  history  with  idol- 
atries, barbarisms,  wars,  butcheries,  oppressions,  crimes, 
blasjihemies !  Verily,  Humanity,  compared  with  its  la- 
tent, transcendent  possibilities,  is  indeed  a  chaos,  without 
form,  and  void,  and  darkness  is  over  its  deep.  And  what 
is  so  sadly  true  of  Humanity  as  a  whole,  is  as  sadly  true 
of  each  member  of  Humanity,  at  least  in  his  natural,  or 
rather  unnatural,  denatured  state.  For  each  man  is  a  mi- 
crocosm, a  miniature  world  of  his  own.  And  each  man, 
compared  with  what  is  conceivable  concerning  him,  is  a 
chaos.  Gaze  on  him  for  a  moment ;  how  dulled  his  reli- 
gious sensibilities,  how  disheveled  his  moral  affections, 
how  sterile  his  spiritual  capacities,  how  perverted  his 
conscience,  how  misconceived  his  goal,  how  ignoble  his 
choices,  how  downward  his  tendencies!  Tnie,  the  ivy 
of  a  graceful  morality  often  exquisitely  festoons  the 
piers  and  arches  and  towers  of  the  temple  of  his  soul; 
but  this  very  morality  itself,  hke  the  lovely  ivy  man- 
tling the  venerable  Abbeys  of  the  Old  AYorld,  testifies, 
it  may  be,  that  the  sacred  fabric  is  crumbling  into  dust. 
Do  you  say  that  my  judgment  is  too  severe  ?  My  re- 
ply shall  be  simple,  and,  as  I  think,  decisive.  Our  own 
chaotic  state  does  not  permit  us  to  be  good  judges  in 
this  matter.  The  reptile  prol)ably  is  not  aware  of  his  own 
loathsomeness ;  but  let  him  become  something  nobler,  say 
an  eagle,  a  man,  or  an  angel,  and  then  he  will  see  how 
reptilian  he  once  was.  Yes,  friend,  surveying  man's  ma- 
jestically promiseful  yet  stunted  capacities,  his  vast  em- 
bryonic but  abortive  powers,  comparing  him  with  what 
is  conceivable  for  him,  man  is  indeed  a  chaos,  without 
form,  and  void,  and  darkness  is  over  the  face  of  the 
deep. 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  61 

Is  there   any  hope  here  ?      Thank 
2.-The  Spirit  still    ^.  ^^    ^j^^^.^   .^^      ^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^. 

the  Organizing  Force.  '  ti        xi        p 

second  lesson.  Inat  same  isreath  oi 
God  which  moved  over  the  face  of  those  ancient  fluids, 
is  moving  to-day  over  the  soul  of  humanity.  Ah,  this  is 
the  blessed  Energy  by  which  the  chaos  of  our  moral  na- 
ture is  being  organized  into  order  and  beauty.  Observe  : 
as,  in  shaping  the  material  Earth  out  of  the  old  Chaos,  the 
Spirit  of  God  added  no  new  elements,  but  simply  fash- 
ioned into  order  the  old ;  so,  in  organizing  the  spiritual 
chaos.  He  adds  no  new  faculties,  but  simply  quickens  and 
organizes  the  old.  "What  man  needs  is  not  creation,  but 
re-creation ;  not  generation,  but  re-generation.  And  this 
it  is  which  the  Holy  Ghost  is  achieving.  Brooding,  incu- 
bating as  God's  Holy  Dove  over  the  Chaos  of  Humanity, 
He  is  quickening  its  latent  forces,  arranging  its  elements, 
assorting  its  capacities,  organizing  its  functions,  apportion- 
ing its  gifts,  perfecting  its  potentialities :  in  short,  com- 
pleting, fulfilling,  consummating  Man  in  the  sj>here  of 
Jesus  Christ.  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  God- 
head bodily,  and  in  Him  ye  are  complete,  completed,  filled 
full,  fulfilled,  consummated  (Col.  ii.  9-10).  Most  meet  then 
was  it  that  when  the  Son  of  God  was  baptized,  this  same 
most  Holy  Spirit,  even  God's  own  blessed  Bird,  which 
had  hovered  over  ancient  Chaos,  should  descend  in  bodily 
shape  like  a  dove,  and  alight  upon  the  Representative 
of  Human  Nature,  even  that  Son  of  Man  in  whom  the 
Chaos  of  Humanity  is  being  organized  into  the  Cosmos  of 
the  Church.  And  no  power  but  the  Holy  Ghost  can 
achieve  this.  Disorder  cannot  unravel  itself  into  order ; 
Chaos  cannot  evolve  itself  into  Cosmos ;  Beelzebub  cannot 
cast  out  Beelzebub.  Only  the  Spirit  of  God  can  organize 
Chaos.    And  this,  praised  be  His  Grace,  He  is  doing.     ISo 


62  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE    WEEK. 

man  knoM-s  wliat  is  in  liini ;  no  man  really  puts  forth  his 
better,  his  characterizing,  his  divine  powers  till  his  soul 
feels  the  life-giving  warmth  of  the  Sjiirit's  touch.  And 
then  he  awakes,  oh,  how  gloriously !  to  the  sense  of  sublime 
energies,  to  the  mastery  of  celestial  ranges.  And  this  it  is 
which  the  Spirit  has  been  doing,  even  from  the  beginning. 
True,  the  process  has  been  a  slow  one,  even  as  it  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  case  of  the  physical  chaos.  See,  e.  g., 
how  slow  has  been  the  growth  of  Christendom  taken  as  a 
matter  of  geograjjhy.  Eighteen  centuries  have  rolled 
away  since  the  Heavenly  Sower  declared  that  His  field  is 
the  world  ;  and  yet  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  that  field 
is  still  heathen,  never  as  yet  sown  with  the  Heavenly  Seed. 
Again  :  see  how  slow  has  been  the  growth  of  moral  ideas. 
Eighteen  centuries  have  rolled  away  since  the  Lord  of  the 
Kingdom  pronounced  His  Beatitudes.  And  yet  there  are 
still  in  His  Church  the  proud  in  spirit,  and  the  ambitious, 
and  the  avaricious,  and  the  self -loving,  and  the  quarrel- 
some, and  the  revengeful.  Nevertlieless,  for  let  us  be 
just,  there  has  been  growth — a  real,  positive,  solid  ad- 
vance. We  have  seen  idolatry  shaken,  and  polygamy 
curbed,  and  slavery  abolished,  and  intemperance  checked, 
and  woman  emancipated,  and  brotherhood  asserted,  and 
war  preparing  to  go  into  perpetual  exile.  And  tlie 
growth  has  been  an  orderly  one  ;  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear  (Mark  iv.  26-29).  It  is 
true  in  respect  to  doctrine.  First  Peter,  the  Apostle  of 
Form  ;  then  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Creed  ;  tlien  John,  the 
Apostle  of  Life.  First  Athanasius,  exponent  of  the  Doc- 
trine of  Christ ;  then  Augustine,  exponent  of  the  Doctrine 
of  Man ;  then  Anselm,  exponent  of  the  Doctrine  of  Grace. 
Kor  has  the  growth  or  advancing  order  of  due  succession 
ceased.     Tlic  problem  of  this  present  age  is  the  Doctrine 


GENESIS   OF   ORDER.  63 

of  tlie  Cliurcli,  or  what  constitutes  tlie  true  Body  of  Clirist. 
And  even  now  we  see  glimmers  of  the  final  Doctrine — the 
Parousia,  or  Doctrine  of  Last  Things.  And  this  law  of 
orderly  nnfolding  is  equally  tnie  in  respect  to  personal 
character.  We  may  not  expect  to  see  the  full-bearded 
grain  of  saintliness  preceding  the  blades  of  youthful  piety, 
or  the  ripe,  rich  fruits  of  heavenhood  clustered  around  the 
subterranean  root  of  faith.  First  children,  then  young 
men,  then  fathers  (i  John  ii.  12-14).  Yes,  Humanity  as  a 
whole  is  ever  taking  on  symmetry,  and  peace,  and  beauty. 
Even  the  bad  man,  however  much  he  may  hate  Christian- 
ity, would  not  exchange  Christendom  for  Heathendom. 
Nay,  more  ;  the  world's  future  will  ever  be  greater  and 
diviner  than  its  past,  because,  evermore  beneath  the  SjDirit's 
brooding  wing,  it  is  evermore  taking  on  growth  and  meth- 
od, evermore  becoming  more  and  more  divinely  purpose 
f  ul,  evermore  becoming  more  and  more  conscious  of  a  voca- 
tion to  divine  Sonship  and  everlasting  praise.  And  so  at 
last  shall  dawn  the  day  of  perfectation,  even  those  Edenic 
Times  of  the  Restitution  of  all  things,  of  which  God  hath 
spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy  prophets  since  the 
world  began  (Acts  iii.  21).  Then,  out  of  the  Chaos  of  Hu- 
manity, even  the  spiritual  heavens  and  earth,  which  now 
are,  shall  be  seen  rising  in  measureless  amplitude,  and  daz- 
zling stateliness,  and  eternal  stability,  the  Cosmos  of  the 
Church,  even  the  new  Heavens  and  new  Earth  wherein 
dwelleth  Righteousness  (2  Peter  iii.  13). 

Finally,  would  you  be  inserted  as  a 

A  Personal  Exbor-    -,■    .  ,  '         '.i',  •  m  10 

livmg  stone  m  that  commg   iemple? 

Then  open  the  chambers  of  your  soul 
to  the  Holy  Breeze  of  God.  Be  wafted  heavenward  on 
the  zephyrs  of  Ilis  Breath.  Even  now,  awake,  O  North 
Wind,  and  come,  Thou  vSouth,  and  breatlie  on  these  dead, 


64  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

that  they  may  live  (Cant.  iv.  16).     Yea,  Thou  risen  Son  of 
God,  breathe  on  us  all,  that  we  too  may  receive  the  Holy 

Ghost  (John  XX.  22)  ! 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.  Amen. 


LECTUEE  lY. 

GENESIS     OF     LIGHT. 

"And  God  said,  'Let  there  be  light,'  and  there  was  light;  and 
God  saw  the  light,  that  it  was  good.  And  God  divided  the  light 
from  the  darkness ;  and  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  darkness 
He  called  Night;  and  the  evening  and  tiie  morning  were  the  first 
day." — Genesis  i.  3,  5. 

And,  first,  let  us  ponder  our  passage 
I. — Explanation    •      •,      v^      i  •  -r>     i    1 1 

,  ^,     Ti  m  its   literal   meaning.     1  robably   we 

of  the  rassage.  '^  ;' 

cannot  do  better  here  than  to  take  up 

the  successive  clauses  in  their  order. 

"  And  God  said."     How  are  we  to 

1.— '  God   said :  '  ^j^derstand   this   phrase  ?     Are   we    to " 

An   Anthropomorph-    ,    ,        .,     t,        ^^     a       * 

jgjjj  take  it  literally «     Are  we  to  suppose 

that  in  that  primeval  solitude  when  the 
earth  was  without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep,  the  Creator  literally  vented  His  will 
in  articulate  speech — His  audible  voice  pealing  and  rever- 
berating through  that  chaotic,  desolate,  night-clad  abyss  ? 
I  can  hardly  think  it.  Evidently  it  is  what  the  theologians 
call  an  Anthropomorphism  ;  that  is  to  say,  an  application 
to  God  of  terms  which  properly  belong  to  human  beings. 
It  is  like  those  many  Scriptural  phrases  which  sjjeak  of 
God's  eye,  God's  ear,  God's  hand,  God's  face,  God's 
mouth,  God's  voice.  Moreover :  recall  what  was  said  in 
the  Introductory  Lecture  touching  the  mode  of  the  Divine 


GG  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

revelation  of  the  Creative  Process  to  the  original  Narrator. 
According  to  the  view  then  set  forth  this  whole  revelation 
of  the  Creative  "Week  was  Divinely  made  known  to  the 
sacred,  inspired  Observer  in  a  trance  or  spiritual  vision, 
wherein  he  saw  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  Creator's 
form  and  movements,  and  heard  what  seemed  to  be  the 
(Jreator's  voice.  But  though  the  Story  of  the  Creative 
AVeek  is  a  Divinely  inspired  record  of  a  Divinely  vouch- 
safed vision,  it  is  as  Divinely  true  as  any  of  the  Apocalyp- 
tic visions  Divinely  vouchsafed  the  Exile  of  Patmos. 

"  God  said."     It  is  the  first  occur- 
2.-Thc  God -Said  ^.^^^^  ^f  ^^jg  remarkable  phrase.     Ten 

of    Moses   the    God-      .  ,      .  i     •        i  •      /-<         . 

Word  of  John  tunes   it   IS  repeated   m  this  Creation 

Archive.  It  is  one  of  the  characteriz- 
ing formulas  of  the  Old  Testament,  constantly  recumng 
and  reappearing  in  such  kindred  phrases  as  these :  "  God 
spake,  saying ; "  "  Thus  saitli  the  Lord  of  Hosts ; "  "  The  Word 
of  the  Lord  came,  saying,"  etc.  A  phrase  so  perpetually 
recurrent  must  carry  in  itself  something  fundamental.  The 
key  is  to  be  found  in  the  Prologue  of  St.  John's  Gospel : 
"  In  the  beginning  was  the  "Word,  and  the  "Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God  "  (John  i.  i).  That  is  to  say : 
The  "  God-Said  "  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  "  God-Word  " 
of  the  New  Testament ;  the  "  God-Spake  "  of  Creation,  the 
Divine  Logos,  or  Jesus  Christ,  of  Iledemption.  Moreover : 
from  this  Prologue  of  the  Apostle  John  we  learn  that  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  was  the  mediating  agent  of  the  Creative 
Act :  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  AYord — the  God-Said  ; 
and  the  Word — the  God-Said — was  with  God  ;  and  the 
Word— the  God-Said — was  God  ;  all  things  through  Ilim 
were  made,  and  without  Him  was  made  not  one  thing  that 
hath  been  made;  in  Him  was  Life;  and  the  Life  was  the 
Light  of  men"  (John  i.  i-4).     Yes,  in  Jesus  Chiist — in  the 


GENESIS  OF  LIGHT.  67 

God-Said  of  Moses  and  the  God-Word  of  Jolin — "were 
all  things  created,  the  things  in  the  heavens  and  the  things 
on  the  earth,  the  things  visihle  and  the  things  invisible, 
■whether  thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or  powers ; 
all  things  through  Ilini  and  for  Him  have  been  created ; 
and  He  is  before  all  things ;  and  all  things  in  Him  sub- 
sist "  (Col.  i.  16,  17).  And  how  majestic  the  brevity  of  this 
Divine  Dictmn  of  Liglit !  "  God  said,  '  Let  Light  be,'  and 
Light  was."  Longinus,  the  famous  Greek  critic  of  Pal- 
myra, writing  on  the  Sublime,  calls  it  an  illustration  of 
his  theme.  Recall  the  lifeless,  orderless,  chaotic,  ebon 
abyss.  And  now  the  Eternal  "Word  speaks  :  "  Let  Light 
be,"  and  Light  is.  Ah,  man's  M'ords  are  but  sounds; 
God's  words  are  deeds.  He  but  speaks ;  and  lo !  light, 
sky,  ocean,  mountain,  tree,  animal,  man,  star,  universe! 
He  spake,  and  it  was ;  He  commanded,  it  stood  fast 
(Psalm  xxxiii.  9) !  All  that  Is — what  is  it  but  the  God-Said 
of  Creation  ? 

And  yet   just  here  an  astronomic 

3.  The  First  Light     rfl^      u  •  Ti  ^   ii 

Chemical  dimculty  ai'ises.     ihe  sun,  we  are  told, 

is  the  primary  source  of  Light.  And 
yet  later  on  in  this  Creation  Archive  we  are  told  that  God 
did  not  make  the  sun  till  the  Fourth  Day  (Gen.  i.  14-19). 
How  then  could  there  have  been  Light  on  the  First  Day  ? 
It  is  a  difficulty  on  which  the  skeptics,  I  hardly  need  tell 
you,  have  not  been  slow  to  seize.  And  yet  it  is  an  exceed- 
ingly superficial  objection — an  objection  which  the  scientist 
of  all  men  ought  to  be  the  very  last  to  make.  For  the  fa- 
mous IS'ebular  Hypothesis  of  Laplace,  to  which  I  adverted 
in  the  last  lecture — a  hypothesis  stoutly  maintained  by  many 
of  the  leading  scientists  of  to-day — distinctly  asserts  that 
the  condensation  of  the  originally  formless,  void,  dark,  gase- 
ous chaos,  accompanied  by  intense  molecular  or  chemical 


68  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

activity,  must  have  emitted  Light.  Remember  that  the 
division  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  into  chapters,  verses,  clauses 
— in  short,  the  punctuation  of  the  original  Hebrew — is  not 
inspired  ;  this  is  altogether  a  human,  artificial  arrangement. 
I  am  not  sure  but  that  the  marvelous  phrase,  "  The  Spirit, 
or  Breath,  of  God  moved  on  the  face  of  the  fluids "  (Gen. 
i.  2),  was  meant  to  stand  as  the  preface  to  the  whole  Cre- 
ative Week,  as  a  caption  to  each  of  the  Creative  Days  ; 
and  assuming  this  to  be  so,  we  can  easily  conceive  that  the 
first  result  of  the  breathing  of  the  Creator  would  be  atomic 
movement  or  molecular  activity ;  and  this,  if  sufliciently 
intense,  would  result  in  incandescence  ;  that  is  to  say.  Light. 
Thus  the  very  Nebular  Hypothesis  itself,  which  some  of 
the  skeptics  have  undertaken  to  suborn  as  a  witness  against 
Moses,  turns  out  to  be  an  august  witness  for  him.  Why 
will  not  men  be  just  ?  Why  will  the  Academy  vote  Moses 
a  blunderer  for  declaring  that  Light  existed  before  the  sun, 
and  yet  vote  Laplace  a  scientist  for  declaring  precisely 
the  same  thing  ?  And  yet  Moses  was  no  scientist.  Liv- 
ing in  that  far-oif  unscientific,  infantile  antiquity,  he  knew 
nothing  about  the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  or  incandescence 
as  the  issue  of  molecular  activity.  How  came  he  then, 
babe  of  an  unscientific  antiquity  though  he  was,  to  antici- 
pate the  grandest  hypothesis  of  Modern  Science?  Is 
there  any  more  philosophical  solution  than  this :  Moses 
was  Di^^nely  inspired  ? 

"  And  God  saw  the  Light,  that  it 

4. — Blessedness  of  i  ti       *  i         i     .         i  i  i  ^i  • 

j^j_^^j  was  good.       Ah,  Avhat  a  blessed  thing 

is  Light — blessed  in  itself,  blessed  in  its 
effects.  How  deliciously  and  beneficently  it  floods  moun- 
tain and  meadow,  city  and  hamlet,  bearing  on  its  swift 
wavelets  bi'ightncss  and  beauty  and  health,  and  gladness  ! 
It   is  to   Light  that  the  cloud,  the  sunset,  the  rainbow, 


GENESIS   OF   LIGHT.  69 

the  diamond,  the  violet,  owe  their  exquisite  hues.  Truly 
the  light  is  sweet,  and  a  pleasant  thing  it  is  for  the  eyes 
to  behold  the  sun  (Eccl.  xi.  1).  Nay,  more :  Light  is  one  of 
the  essential  conditions  of  all  life  itself  —  alike  veffetal, 
animal,  human,  and,  doubtless,  angelic.  Yes,  there  is  a 
better  curative  than  allopathy  or  homoeopathy,  hydropathy 
or  aeropathy ;  it  is  heliopathy,  or  light  of  the  sun.  Phy- 
sicians understand  this,  and  so  seek  for  their  patients  the 
sunny  side  of  hospitals.  And  so  they  unconsciously  con- 
firm the  Holy  Saying,  "  To  you  that  fear  My  name  shall 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  His  wings  " 
(Mai.  iv.  2).  Yes,  our  debt  of  thankfulness  to  Light  is  sim- 
ply incalculable.  It  is  under  its  blessed  ministry  that  the 
cloud  takes  its  tint,  and  the  rose  its  hue,  and  the  cheek 
its  blush  ;  that  the  farmer  sows  his  seed,  and  the  artisan 
plies  his  tools,  and  the  pilot  guides  his  ship,  and  the  stu- 
dent reads  his  book,  and  the  lover  exchanges  with  his  loved 
one  the  tender  glance,  and  the  invalid  regains  his  health, 
and  the  worshiper  finds  his  way  to  God's  temj^le.  It  mat- 
ters not  how  perfect  the  structure  and  government  of  the 
world  are  in  other  respects  ;  how  accurate  the  adjustments 
of  the  elements  and  forces  of  N^ature  ;  how  mighty  the  in- 
tellect of  man ;  how  indomitable  his  will ;  how  steady  his 
arm  ;  how  perfect  his  eye  as  an  organ  of  vision — let  only 
Liglit  be  annihilated,  and  the  machinery  of  society  comes 
to  a  stop,  and  earth  itself  dissolves  into  its  primeval  chaos. 
How  horrible  a  sunless  world  would  be,  Byron  has  pictured 
in  Ris  terrible  Poem  on  "  Darkness."  In  brief :  it  is  because 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  Light  that  earth  is  what  it  is — a 
theatre  for  the  display  of  the  Creator's  effulgence,  and  not 
a  sepulchre  for  entombing  it.  No  wonder  then,  when  God 
saw  the  Light  He  had  spoken  into  being,  it  seemed  to  Him 
good.     No  wonder  either  that  Light,  in  some  one  of  its 


70  STUDIES   Ii\   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

aspects — as  sun,  or  moon,  or  star,  or  lire — lias  been  the  ob- 
ject of  adoration  from  time  immemorial.  The  Phoenician 
had  his  Baal,  the  Egyptian  his  Osiris,  the  Persian  his  Oi-- 
nnizd,  the  Hindoo  his  Indra,  the  Greek  his  Phoebus,  the 
Koman  liis  Apollo — for  these  are  but  different  systems  of 
Light  "Worship.  Listen  to  the  Patriarch  of  Uz,  as  he  pro- 
tests his  innocence  in  this  very  matter  : 

"  If  I  beheld  the  sun  when  it  shined, 
And  the  moon  walking  in  majesty, 
And  my  heart  was  secretly  enticed, 
And  my  mouth  kissed  my  hand — 
This  also  were  a  crime  to  be  judged, 
For  I  should  have  been  false  to  God  on  high." 

—(Job  xxxi.  26-28.) 

But  what  the  heathen  ignorantly  worshiped,  that  the  Bible 

declares  to  us.     But  let  me  not  anticipate. 

"  And  God  divided  tlie  Light  froni 

°'        '  tlie  darkness :  and  God  called  the  Lio-lit 
ing.  ^ 

Day,  and  the  Darkness  He  called  Night : 
and  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  First  Day." 

And  here  comes  into  view  a  second  astronomic  difh- 
culty  :  How  shall  the  terms  "  day,  night,  morning,  even- 
ing, first  day,"  be  imderstood  in  light  of  the  subsequent 
statement  that  the  sun  was  not  made  till  the  Fourth  Day, 
and  also  of  the  apparent  teaching  of  Geology,  that  im- 
measurable ages  were  occupied  in  world-building?  Vari- 
ous solutions  have  been  proposed.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
detail  them.  My  own  conviction  is,  as  already  set  fftrtli 
at  leugth  in  the  Introductory  Lecture,  that  the  best  solu- 
tion is  that  which  supposes  that  the  original  NaiTator  was 
Divinely  vouchsafed  an  apocalypse,  or  spiritual  vision,  in 
Vvhich  a  j>anorama  of  the  Creative  "Week  was  unrolled  be- 
fore him,  the  successive  events  seeming  to  occur  in  periods 


GENESIS   OF   LIGHT.  71 

of  twenty-four  hours  each.  In  other  words  :  the  kmguagc 
is  not  scientific,  hut  optical ;  not  philosophical,  but  pic- 
torial ;  not  literal,  but  scenic.  And  yet,  philosophically  and 
morally  interpreted,  it  is  profoundly  true.  For  observe 
the  order  of  the  words  :  It  is  not  first  morning,  and  then 
evening ;  it  is  first  evening,  then  morning :  "  And  there 
was  evening,  and  there  was  morning,  day  one."  Translat- 
ing this  primeval,  childlike,  scenic  language  into  the  rigid, 
elaborate  language  of  the  modern  Kebular  Hypothesis,  see 
how  marvelously  true  it  is.  First :  the  evening  of  the  form- 
less, void,  dark  chaos ;  then  the  morning  of  the  atomic  vi- 
bration, or  chemical  movement,  issuing  in  incandescent  light. 
And  for  aught  we  know,  and,  indeed,  as  there  is  immense 
reason  for  believing,  that  evening  of  chaos,  and  that  morning 
of  chemism,  making  a  night  of  darkness  and  a  day  of  light, 
continued  through  thousands  and  millions  of  years.  How 
striking,  in  this  connection,  the  Ninetieth  Psalm,  written, 
it  is  believed,  by  this  very  Moses  w^ho  transcribed  for  us 
the  original,  inspired  Tradition  of  Creation :  "  Lord,  Thou 
hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations.  Before 
the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  and  Thou  gavest  birth 
to  the  eai-tli  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting, from  olam  to  olam,  from  ?eon  to  aeon,  from  era  to 
era.  Thou  art  God.  Thou  turnest  man  to  dust,  and  sayest, 
'  Eeturn,  ye  sons  of  men.'  For  a  thousand  years  in  Thy 
sight  are  as  yesterday  when  it  is  passed,  and  as  a  watch 
in  the  night "  (rsaim  xc.  1-4).  Yes,  "  one  day  is  with  the 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one 
day  "  (2  Peter  iii.  8).  Ah,  this  conception  of  the  Primal, 
Infinite  Cause,  as  working  in  succession,  or  measures  of 
lunnan  time--wliat  is  it  but  a  testimony  to  human  finite- 
ness  and  weakness  ?  Felicitously  has  the  Laureate  ex- 
pressed it : 


72  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

"  To  your  question  now, 
Which  touches  on  the  Workman  and  His  work. 
Let  there  be  Light,  and  there  was  Light :  'tis  so : 
For  was,  and  is,  and  will  be,  are  but  is ; 
And  all  creation  is  one  act  at  once, 
The  birth  of  Light:  but  we  that  are  not  all. 
As  parts  can  see  but  parts,  now  this,  now  that, 
And  live,  perforce,  from  thought  to  thought,  and  make 
One  act  a  phantom  of  succession  :  thus 
Our  weakness,  somehow,  shapes  the  shadow.  Time." 

—("The  Peinoess.") 

Sucli  is  tlie  story  of  the  Genesis  of  Light. 

n. Moral  Mean-          And  now  let  us  attend  to  the  Moral 

ing  of  our  Passage.   Meaning  of  the  Story. 

„  , .  , .  ,  First  of  all,  I  wish  to  direct  your 

1. — God  IS  Light.  .  '  11111         •  ^ 

attention  to  a  remarkable  declaration  oi 

Holy  Writ.  The  Apostle  John  tells  us  that  he  has  received 
a  message  from  Jesus  Christ ;  and  then  he  proceeds  to  de- 
clare to  us  that  message.  What  now  is  the  message  and  dec- 
laration ?  Is  it  that  God  is  Truth  ?  'No.  God  is  Righteous- 
ness ?  No.  God  is  Love  ?  ]S"o.  What  then  is  it  ?  Listen : 
"  This  is  the  message  which  we  have  heard  from  Him, 
and  declare  unto  you,  that  God  is  Light"  (i  John  i.  6).  An 
unexpected,  impressive  message,  surely  !  Had  the  Apostle 
told  us  that  the  message  was,  "  God  is  Wisdom,  Power, 
Holiness,  Love,"  we  might  not  have  been  surprised.  But 
to  be  told,  and  this  too  after  a  preface  of  unwonted  solem- 
nity, in  which  we  are  reminded  that  the  message  had  come 
from  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  that  the  message  was  this  : 
"  God  is  Light : "  this  certainly  is  unlooked-for  and  even 
startling.  Listen  again  :  "  This  is  the  message  which  we 
have  heard  from  Him,  and  announce  unto  you  :  '  God  is 
Light.'  "  The  announcement  at  once  raises  the  surmise  that 
there  is  not  after  all  that  radical  difference  between  "  Natu- 


GENESIS   OF  LIGHT.  73 

ral  Eeligioii "  and  "  Kevealed  Keligion,"  wliicli  we  so  often 
imagine;  but  tliat  tlie  God  of  Creation  and  tlie  God  of 
Eedemption  is  absolutely  one  :  Creation  being  the  reflec- 
tion of  IBs  face  shining  matterward,  and  Eedemption  the 
reflection  of  His  face  shining  spiritward.  For  aught  I 
know,  the  Apostle's  message  is  literally  true.  Eemember 
that  when  we  are  talking  of  Light,  we  are  moving  in 
presence  of  a  very  subtile  mystery.  The  Origin  and  ITa- 
ture  of  Light  is  still  a  profound  problem.  True,  we  talk 
learnedly  and  correctly  about  the  laws  of  Light ;  its  laws 
of  reflection,  refraction,  absorption,  dispersion,  polarization, 
etc.  But  these  are  only  phenomena ;  they  tell  us  nothing 
about  the  nature  or  origin  of  Light  itseK.  All  we  know 
of  Light  is  merely  a  knowledge  of  the  mode  and  laws  of 
its  motion.  We  do  not  know  the  essence  of  Light  itself. 
Modern  Science  is  no  wiser  here  than  Ancient.  Listen  to 
the  Almighty,  as,  addi-essing  tlie  Emir  of  Arabia,  He 
speaks  out  of  the  whirlwind,  saying  : 

"  The  way— where  is  it  to  Light's  dwelling-place? 
And  Darkness— where  the  place  of  its  abode? 
That  thou  shouldest  take  it  to  its  bounds, 
Or  know  the  way  that  leadeth  to  its  house? " 

—(Job  xxxviii.  19,  20.) 

One  thing  is  certain  :  Light  is  the  nearest  known,  sensi- 
ble approach  to  immateriality,  being  classed  wath  its  appar- 
ent kindred— heat,  electricity,  magnetism— among  the  im- 
ponderables. Indeed,  the  modern  magnificent  Undulatory 
Theory  denies  that  Light  is  material,  and  aflirms  that  it  is 
but  a  mode  of  motion.  We  are  accustomed  to  say  that 
there  are  but  two  things  in  the  universe — Spirit  and  Mat- 
ter—and that  the  chasm  between  these  is  infinite.  Possibly 
this  is  one  of  those  assumptions  which,  did  we  know  more, 
4 


74  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

we  would  affirm  less.  Possibly  Light  is  an  instance  of 
what  the  philosophers  call  Tertium  Quid — a  third  Some- 
thing, intermediate  between  Spirit  and  Matter,  etherially 
bridging  the  measureless  chasm.  Possibly  Light  is  God's 
natural  expression,  outflow,  radiation,  manifestation,  vest- 
ment : 

"  O  Lord,  ray  God,  Thou  art  very  great, 
Thou  art  clothed  with  honor  and  majesty. 
Thou  coverest  Thyself  with  Light  as  with  a  mantle." 

— (Psalm  civ.  1,  2.) 

Possibly,  when  the  Creator  moves  in  that  finite  world 
we  call  Time,  He  leaves  Light  as  Ilis  personal  vestige  and 
train — His  mantle  ripples  into  Light,  is  Light  itself.  Pos- 
sibly the  Bard  of  "  Paradise  Lost "  is  right  when  he  sings  : 

"  Hail,  Holy  Light  I  Offspring  of  Heaven,  first-born, 
Or  of  the  eternal,  co-eternal  Beam, 
Bright  Effluence  of  bright  Essence  Increate." 

— ("  Pabadise  Lost,"  iii.  1-6.) 

In  \aew  of  this  possibility,  how  natural  as  well  as  fitting 
that  the  ancient  token  of  God's  Personal  Presence  among 
the  Hebrews  should  have  been  the  Shechinah,  or  dazzling 
Glory-cloud  : 

"  By  day  along  the  astonished  lands, 
The  cloudy  pillar  glided  slow  ; 
By  night,  Arabia's  crimsoned  sands 
Returned  the  fiery  column's  glow." 

— (Sir  Walter  Soott.) 

And,  not  only  in  Old  Testament  times,  as  when  the 
Shechinah  marshaled  .  the  hosts  of  Israel  (Ex.  xiii.  2i),  and 
rested  on  Sinai,  and  flashed  over  the  Mercy-seat  (Lev.  xvi.  2), 
and  flushed  the  Temple  with  its  insufferable  brightness 
(1  Kings  viii.  10,  11),  was  tlic  Glory-cloud  seen;  it  reapi3eared 
in  New  Testament  times,  shining  roimd  about  the  Shep- 


GENESIS   OF   LIGHT.  75 

herds  of  the  Nativity  (Luke  ii.  9),  hovering  over  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration  (Matt.  xvii.  9),  receiving  the  ascending  Son 
of  Man  (Acts  i.  9),  gleaming  over  Saul  of  Tarsus  with  a 
splendor  above  the  brightness  of  the  mid-day  sun  (Acts  xxvi. 
12,  13).  Once  more  it  will  reappear,  blazing  as  the  great 
white  Throne  on  which  shall  sit  the  descending  Judge  of 
quick  and  dead  (Matt.  xxiv.  so).  I^ay,  more,  the  Holy  City 
itself,  Kew  Jerusalem,  yet  to  come  down  from  God  out 
of  heaven,  shall  never  have  need  of  sun  or  moon  to  shine 
on  it ;  for  tlie  Glory  of  God  will  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb 
will  be  the  Light  thereof  (Rev.  xxi.  22,  23).  This,  then,  is  the 
message  of  the  Son  of  the  Highest  through  His  Apostle 
John  :  God  is  Light. 

And  as  God  is  Light,  so  also  are 
2.-God's  Church  His  children  Light.    Expressly  are  they 

is  also  Light.  „    ,  n  %  •   -,  .  t^ 

called   sons   01   Light  (Luke  xvi.  8).     h,x- 

pressly  is  He  called  Father  of  Lights  (James  i.  1I).  We 
know  that  light  is  latent  in  every  form  of  matter;  for, 
when  sufficiently  heated,  it  becomes  incandescent — that  is 
to  say,  self-luminous.  What  is  flame  but  a  mass  of  heated, 
visibly  glowing  gas  ?  True,  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be  (John  iil.  2).  Nevertheless,  I  believe  that 
Light  is  latent  within  us  all,  and  that  by-and-by,  at  least 
in  the  case  of  God's  saintly  children,  it  will  stream  forth ; 
not  that  it  will  be  evolved  by  the  action  of  any  heat  or 
chemical  force,  but  that,  under  the  free,  transcendent  con- 
ditions of  the  heavenly  estate,  it  will  ray  forth  spontane- 
ously. I  think  we  are  peraiitted  to  read  preluding  hints 
of  this  in  the  solf-luminousness  of  the  summer  glow-worm, 
the  fitful  firefly,  the  ploughing  steamship's  gorgeous  wake, 
the  gleaming  shaft  along  the  crest  of  the  breaking  ocean- 
surge,  the  vision  of  stars  when  the  brain  receives  a  sud- 
den concussion  as  in  falling,  the  sense  of  light  when  the 


76  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

eyeball  is  accidentally  pressed  in  tlie  blackness  of  mid- 
night. But  wby  do  I  speculate  ?  Have  ye  never  read  in 
tlie  Scri^jtures  liow  tliat  tlie  cliildren  of  Israel  could  not 
steadfastly  behold  the  face  of  Moses,  because  of  the  glory 
of  his  countenance  when  the  skin  of  his  face  shone  (Ex.  xxxiv. 
29-35) ;  how  that  the  martyr  Stephen's  face,  when  he  stood 
before  the  Council,  shone  as  the  face  of  an  angel  (Acts  vi.  15) ; 
how  that  the  Son  of  Man  Himself,  when  He  was  praying, 
was  transfigured,  and  the  fashion  of  His  countenance  was 
altered,  and  His  face  shone  as  the  sun,  and  His  very  rai- 
ment became  exceeding  white  as  the  light,  so  as  no  fuller 
on  earth  can  whiten  (Matt.  xvii.  1-8) ;  how  that  Moses  and 
Elijah  also  appeared  with  Him  in  glory  (Luke  ix.  so,  si)  ? 
Have  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures  how  that  Gabriel 
declared  to  Daniel  that  they  who  are  wise  shall  shine  as 
the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  who  turn  many 
to  righteousness  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever  (Dan.  xii.  s) : 
or  how  that  the  Master  Himself  declares  that  in  the  end 
of  the  world  the  righteous  shall  shine  forth  as  the  sun — 
ay,  shine  fortli — not  in  reflected  light  as  the  moon,  but  in 
original  Light  as  the  sun,  in  the  Kingdom  of  their  Father 
(Matt.  xiii.  43)  ?  Have  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures  how 
that  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  wlien  He,  Who  is  our  Life,  shall 
appear,  we  too  shall  appear  with  Him  in  glory  (Col.  iii.  4) : 
or  how  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Who  mil  change  the  body  of  our  humiliation,  that 
it  may  be  fashioned  like  the  body  of  His  glory — His  efful- 
gence (Phil.  iii.  21) — thus  translating  us  into  the  glorious  lib- 
erty— the  liberty  of  the  splendor,  of  the  childi-en  of  God 
— even  that  hour  of  the  manifestation,  the  revelation,  the 
disclosure,  of  the  sons  of  God — the  hour  of  their  shining 
apocaly]3se  as  God's  Sons  (Rom.  viii.  2i)?  Ah,  that  is  the 
blessed  hour,  O  saint,  when  thou  shalt  indeed  arise  and 


GENESIS  OF  LIGHT.  77 

sliine,  tliy  light  Ijreaking  forth  as  the  da-svn  (Is.  Iviii.  8).    Ay, 

God  is  Light,  and  so  also  are  God's  children. 

Thirdly  :   Jesus  Christ  Himself,  as 

.V-  '^  J       t  r^  A      Incarnate,  is  the  Shadow  of  God's  Liffht. 
the  Shadow  of  God.      -r    ^    •        r^     -,     t^   • 

Infinite  God,  Deity  as  unconditioned 
and  absolute,  no  man  hath  ever  seen  or  can  ever  see,  and 
live  (Ex.  xxxiii.  20).  lie  dwcllcth  in  Light  which  no  man 
can  approach  unto  (i  Tim.  vi.  15),  is  Light  itseK.  "  Dark 
with  excess  of  Light,"  we  poor  finite  beings  cannot  behold 
Him  except  through  the  softening  intervention  of  some 
medium.  Therefore  the  Son  of  God,  Brightness  of  His 
Glory  and  express  Image  of  His  Person  (Heb.  i.  8),  Radiance 
of  His  Effulgence  and  Character  or  Impress  of  His  Sub- 
stance, became  incarnate,  that  in  the  softer  morning  star 
and  suffused  dayspring  of  the  Incarnation  we  might  be 
able  to  look  on  the  dazzling  Father  of  Lights,  and  not  be 
dazed  into  blindness.  How  bright  Christ's  inherent  Glory 
was  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  wdien  He  had  risen 
again,  and  appeared  to  Saul  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  His 
splendor  was  so  effulgent  that  it  actually  smote  the  per- 
secutor into  blindness  (Acts  xxii.  11).  The  Eternal  Word, 
who  in  the  beginning  was,  and  was  with  God,  and  was 
God  (John  i.  1),  laid  aside  for  a  wdiile  the  Glory  which  He 
had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was  (John  xvii.  5),  and 
became  flesh  (John  i.  14),  that  through  the  mitigating  veil 
of  that  flesh  we  might  be  able  to  gaze  on  the  burning 
face  of  the  Infinite  One,  and  still  live.  The  Incarnation 
was  a  benignant  eclipse  of  the  Light  of  Light,  Christ's 
humanity  casting  its  solemn,  majestic  shadow  athwart  the 
immensity  of  human  time  as  His  earthly  nature  swept  in 
between  Infinite  God  and  finite  man,  thus  graciously 
obscuring  the  otherwise  intolerable,  consuming  Blaze. 
Wretclied  the  man  whom  the  god  of  this  world  has  so 


r^g  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

blinded  that  that  eclipse  becomes  a  total  one !  Blessed 
the  man  who,  however  profound  the  obscurity,  still  per- 
ceives the  flashing  corona  of  immoi-tal  Godhead!  Yea, 
thrice  blessed  the  man  who  abideth  under-  the  shadow  of 
the  Almighty  (Psalm  xci.  1) !  Thus  Jesus  Christ  is  the  shad- 
ow of  God ;  and  this  in  a  twofold  sense :  a  shadow  of 
interception,  and  so  obscuring  God :  and  a  shadow  of  rep- 
resentation, and  so  revealing  God.  Yea,  that  God,  who  in 
the  beginning  commanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness, 
amid  the  night-palled  chaos,  saying,  "  Let  Light  be,"  and, 
lo,  Liirht  w^as — that  same  God  hath  shined  in  our  hearts  to 
give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  (2  Cor.  iv.  6). 

Fourthly :  But  Jesus  Christ  is  not 
4.— Jesus  Christ  ^^^j  the  shadow  or  tempered  image  of 
World  ^^^  ^  ^  God  :  in  the  very  act  of  becoming  that 
shadow  Jesus  Christ  also  became  the 
Light  of  the  world  (John  viii.  12).  Ah,  how  much  the  world 
needed  His  illumination  !  Yerily,  it  was  the  land  of  dark- 
ness and  the  shadow  of  death — the  land  of  darkness,  as 
darkness  itself,  of  the  shadow  of  death,  without  any  or- 
der, and  where  the  light  is  as  darkness  (Job  x.  21,  22).  But, 
praised  be  Immanuel,  the  people  who  walked  in  darkness 
have  seen  a  great  Light ;  and  they  who  dwelt  in  the  land 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  thein  Light  hath  shined 
(Matt.  iv.  16).  The  Dayspring  from  on  high  hath  visited  us 
(Luke  i.  78),  and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  hath  risen  on  us 
with  healing  in  His  wings  (Mai.  iv.  2).  The  Son  of  God  is 
tlie  true  Prometheus,  descending  from  the  true  Olympus, 
bringing  down  to  this  darkened,  groping,  chaotic  world 
the  blazing  torcli  of  Heaven's  own  fire.  In  His  Light  we 
see  Light  (Psalm  xxxvi.  9).  He  is  the  true  Light,  which, 
coming  into  the  world,  is  enlightening  every  man  (John  i.  9). 


GENESIS  OF  LIGHT.  79 

And  lie  is  enlightening  every  man  throngli  tlie  manger  in 
wliicli  lie  was  laid,  through  the  words  He  spake,  through 
the  works  He  wrought,  through  the  example  He  set, 
thi'ough  the  character  He  was,  through  the  death -He  en- 
dured, through  the  resurrection  He  won,  through  the 
throne  He  holds.  This,  in  fact,  was  the  secret  of  the 
Christ's  mission  into  the  world.  The  very  pm-pose  why 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  had  anointed  Him  was  that 
He  might  proclaim  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind  (Is.  Ixi.  i) 
by  becoming  Himself  the  Light  of  men.  True,  the  pro- 
cess of  recovery  has  not  been  sudden :  God  knoAvs  it  has 
been  very  gradual.  In  regaining  our  spiritual  sight  we, 
like  the  bhnd  man  of  Bethsaida,  at  first  see  men  as  trees 
walking  (Mark  viii.  24).  Saved  though  we  are.  Duty  still 
calls  us  to  delve  as  in  mines  of  the  eartk  And  so,  as  in 
the  ancient  Prophet's  vision,  for  a  long  time  it  is  neither 
day  nor  night :  but  be  of  good  cheer,  O  saint,  at  eventide 
it  shall  be  light  (Zeck  xiv.  1).  Yea,  light  is  sown  for  the 
righteous  (Psalm  xlvii.  11) :  and,  when  in  due  time  it  is  reaped, 
the  harvest  will  be  larger  than  the  seed. 

"  We  have  but  faith  ;  we  cannot  know : 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see : 
And  yet,  we  trast,  it  comes  from  Thee, 
A  beam  in  darkness  :  let  it  grow."— ("  In  Memoriam.") 

Ay,  the  path  of  the  just  is  like  the  light  of  dawn,  whicli 
shineth  more  and  more  till  the  perfect  day— the  meridian, 
eternal  noon  (Prov.  iv.  18). 

Fifthly  :    As   Jesus   Christ    is    the 
5.-And  so  also  is  -j^.  ,^^  ^^    ^^^^  World,   SO   also  is  His 

His  Church.  ^J^       ,        tt         i  \i  i        j:   • 

Churcli :  He,  clear  as  the  sun,  she,  lair 
as  the  moon,  both  together  resplendent  as  an  army  with 
banners  (Cant,  vi.  lO).     Little  as  the  world  dreams  it,  the 


80  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Cliurcli  of  tlie  living  God,  everlastingly  circling  in  tlie 
sweet  gravitation  of  love  around  the  shining  Snn  of  Itight- 
eousness,  and  lustrous  with  His  heams,  is  the  world's  ti"ue 
Pharos,  majestically  towering  amid  the  wastes  of  time's 
immensity,  flashing  forth  its  rays, 

"Like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 
And  like  a  lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea, 
Through  all  the  circle  of  the  Golden  Year." 

Ah,  there  are  tunes  when  you  and  I  and  the  wisest  of  men, 
suddenly  awaking  to  some  great  question  concerning  God, 
or  Duty,  or  Eternity,  feel  the  horror  of  a  great  darkness 
creeping  over  us  (Gen.  xv.  12).  Whither  shall  we  turn  for 
guidance  ?  To  the  phosphorescent  light  of  Nature  ?  Alas, 
it  is  but  the  dim  lustre  of  the  glow-worm,  the  transient 
sparkle  of  the  firefly,  the  deceitful  ignis  fatuus  of  the 
marsh.  Shall  we  turn  to  the  artificial  lights  of  the  Acad- 
emy ?  Alas,  its  flickering  torches,  and  flaring  flambeaux, 
and  dazzling  calcium  lights,  however  brilliant  and  useful 
for  this  Avorld,  are  quenched  amid  the  spray  of  the  surg- 
ing billows  of  death.  "Whither  tlien  shall  we  turn  for 
light?  To  that  blessed  halo,  which,  let  down  from  the 
enthroned,  radiant  Son  of  God,  encircles  the  head  of  the 
littlest  of  His  babes.  Ay,  that  is  tlic  Heaven-lighted  au- 
rora before  which  earth's  most  refulgent  orb  "  pales  its  un- 
eflectual  fire."  O  children  of  the  Eternal  Father,  hide  not 
then  your  light  (Matt.  v.  14-16). 

,„     T    r.     1  Two  thoughts  in  conclusion. 

III. — In  Conclu-  »  ,      r     ,  r        i 

gj-Qjj  And,  first,  a  word  ot  clieer  for  the 

1.— A    Word    of  saint.     Ye  arc  sons  of  Light.      Kecall 

ciicer.  jiQ^  Ijo-^v  much  Light  means.     It  means 

all  that  is  most  bright  and  clean  and  direct  and  open  and 

unselfish  and  spotless  and  lovely  and  healthful  and  true 


GENESIS  OF  LIGHT.  81 

and  divine.  How  exceedingly  great  tlien  your  wealth  1 
Oh,  live  worthily  of  your  rich  estate.  Walk  in  the  Light, 
even  as  He  is  in  the  Light,  and  is  Himself  the  Light 
(1  John  i.  5-7).  Let  every  sunrise  summon  you,  not  only  to 
the  true  Light,  but  also  to  a  closer,  brighter  walk  with 
Him.  The  nearer  Him,  the  more  luminous.  May  the  life 
of  each  one  of  us  be  in  very  truth  a  helianthus,  evermore 
keeping  our  petals  turned  toward  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness !  Yea,  O  Lord,  evermore  lift  Thou  upon  us  the  light 
of  Thy  countenance,  evermore  cause  Thy  face  to  shine 
upon  us.  So  shall  we,  with  all  Thy  ransomed  ones  of 
every  land  and  age,  be  made  meet  to  enter  into  the  ex- 
ceeding rich  patrimony,  even  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  Light  (Col.  i.  12).  Ay,  in  that  day  of  noontide  splendor, 
when  the  Lord  shall  have  bound  up  the  breach  of  His  peo- 
ple, and  healed  the  woamd  of  their  stroke,  the  light  of  the 
moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the 
sun  shall  be  seven-fold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days  (Is.  xxx. 
26 ;  ix.  19).  Nay,  more :  in  that  day  of  eternal  noontide, 
the  sun  shall  no  more  be  thy  light ;  neither  for  brightness 
shall  the  moon  give  light  to  thee  :  for  the  Lord  shall  be 
to  thee  an  everlasting  Liglit,  and  thy  God,  thy  Glory. 

Finally :  a  word  of  entreaty  to  the 
„  /~~  sinner.     Of  what  use,  O  friend,  is  the 

Eatreaty.  ^  _        '    ^  '   ,        . 

most  abounding  light,  if  we  persist  m 
keeping  our  eyes  closed  ?  Awake,  then,  O  sleeper,  and 
arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  will  give  thee  Light  (Eph. 
V.  14).  Oh,  that  at  this  very  moment  the  day  miglit  dawn 
and  the  day-star  arise  in  your  heart  (2  Peter,  i.  19) !  Re- 
member that  that  same  God,  who  called  Light  out  of  dark- 
ness, divided  the  Light  from  the  darkness,  calling  the 
Light  Day,  and  the  darkness  He  called  Night.  As  there  is 
an  eternal  Day  for  the  Son  of  Light,  so  there  is  an  eternal 


82  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Niglit  for  tlie  Son  of  Darkness.  Crive  glory,  then,  to  Je- 
hovah, thy  God,  before  it  groweth  dark,  and  before  thy 
feet  stumble  upon  the  dark  mountains :  and,  while  thou  art 
looking  for  light.  He  turn  it  into  the  death-shade  (Jer.  xiii.  16). 
Mehr  Llcht !  gasped  the  great  but  Christless  Goethe  on 
his  dying-bed.  What  Light  is  that  which  I  see  gleaming 
beyond  tlie  river,  glinting  even  on  the  frowning  crags 
which  overhang  the  Yalley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death  ?  It 
is  the  Light  of  the  city  which  hath  the  foundations  (Heb. 
xi.  10),  even  that  eternal,  dazzling  city,  which  will  never 
need  the  light  of  sun  or  moon ;  for  the  effulgence  of  God 
doth  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  Splendor  thereof  Rev.) 

xxi.  23). 

"  There  is  a  region  lovelier  far 
Than  sages  tell,  or  poets  sing, 
Brighter  than  noonday  glories  are, 
And  softer  than  the  tints  of  spring. 

It  is  not  fanned  by  summer's  gale ; 

'Tis  not  refreshed  by  vernal  showers ; 
It  never  needs  the  moonbeam  pale. 

For  there  are  known  no  evening  hours. 

No,  for  that  world  is  ever  bright 

With  purest  radiance  all  its  own; 
The  streams  of  uncreated  Light 

Flow  round,  it  from  th'  eternal  throne. 

In  vain  the  curious,  searching  eye 

May  seek  to  view  the  fair  abode. 
Or  find  it  in  the  starry  sky : 

It  is  the  dwelling-placo  of  God." 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.  Amen. 


LECTUEE  V. 

GENESIS    OF    THE    SKY. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters.  And  God 
made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters  which  were  under  the 
firmament  from  the  waters  which  were  above  the  firmament :  and  it 
was  so.  And  God  called  the  firmament  Heaven.  And  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  second  day." — Genesis  i.  6-8. 

•  I  —Explanation         -^^'^  ^^^  ^^'^^  attend  to  the  Explana- 
of  the  Passage.        tion  of  tlie  Passage. 

And,   first,   what   did    the    Sacred 

■~~  T!^^^a,  °°    Chronicler  mean  by  the  term  "  Firma- 
ccption  01  the  feky.  "^ 

ment,"  or,  more  literally,  "  Expanse  i 
Beware,  then,  at  the  very  outset  of  trying  to  extort  from 
the  passage  wliat  is  not  in  it.  Beware  of  demanding  from 
Moses  the  harvest  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  of  cm-  Lord. 
Instead,  then,  of  putting  our  meaning  into  Moses's  words, 
is  it  not  fairer,  first  of  all,  to  ask  what  Moses  himself 
meant?  Having  learned  this,  then  it  will  be  proper  to 
ask  whether  his  meaning  is  consistent  with  modern  lights. 
Manifestly,  then,  the  honest  thing  to  do  is,  first  of  all,  to 
forget  modern  attainments,  and  enter  into  sympathy  with 
the  simple,  untutored  conceptions  of  the  ancients.  Ee- 
membering  now  that  the  language  of  Scripture  on  such 
matters  is  not  scientific,  but  phenomenal,  let  us   try  to 


84  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

dwarf  ourselves  backward  thousands  of  years,  and  catcli 
the  primeval,  childlike  conception  of  the  Expanse,  or 
Heavens.  To  the  ancient  Hebrew  the  sky  seemed  a  vast, 
outstretched,  concave  surface  or  expansion,  in  which  the 
stars  were  fastened,  and  over  which  the  ethereal  waters 
were  stored.  In  the  light  of  this  infant  conception  let  me 
now  recall  to  you,  without  comment,  a  few  Scriptural  ex- 
pressions. "  He  setteth  a  canopy  over  the  face  of  the 
deep  "  (Piov.  viii.  27) ;  "  He  f oldeth  up  the  heavens  as  a  vest- 
ure "  (lleb.  i.  12),  "and  rolleth  them  together  as  a  scroll" 
(Is.  xxxiv.  4) ;  "  He  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain, 
and  spreadeth  them  out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in  "  (Is.  xl.  22) ; 
"  He  walketh  on  the  arch  of  heaven  "  (Job  xxiL  14),  "  and 
sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth "  (Is.  xl.  22) ;  "  He 
spreadeth  out  the  skies,  firm  hke  a  molten  mirror  "  (Job 
xxxvii.  18) :  "  there  was  under  His  feet,  as  it  were,  a  jDaved 
work  of  sapphire  stone,  as  it  were  heaven  itself  for  clear- 
ness "  (Ex.  xxiv.  10) ;  "  Praise  Him,  ye  heavens  of  heaven, 
and  ye  waters  that  are  above  the  heavens  "  (Psalm  cxlviii.  4) ; 
"  He  opened  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  the  rain  wa& 
upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights  "  (Gen.  vii.  11, 12). 
"But  all  this,"  you  tell  me,  "is  scientifically  false;  the 
sky  is  not  a  material  arch,  or  tent,  or  bander,  with  outlets 
for  rain  ;  it  is  only  the  matterless  limit  of  vision."  [Nei- 
ther, let  me  again  remind  you,  is  there  any  such  thing  as 
"  sunrise "  or  "  sunset."  To  use  such  words  is  to  utter 
what  science  declares  is  a  falsehood.  And  yet  your  as- 
tronomer, li^ang  in  the  blaze  of  science  fresh  from  the 
discovery  of  spectnim  analysis  and  satellites  of  Mars,  and 
knowing  too  that  his  words  are  false,  still  persists  in  talk- 
ing of  sunrise  and  sunset.  Will  you,  then,  deny  to  the 
untutored  Moses,  speaking  in  the  childlike  language  of 
that  ancient,  infant  civilization,  the  privilege  which  you 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SKY.  85 

SO  freely  accord  to  the  diploma-emblazoned,  scientifically- 
speaking,  nineteenth-century  astronomer  ? 

Taking  now,  as  our  cle^y,  this  primi- 
2. — Panorama   of    ,.  i  -i  ^^^^  ..  e   ,^        ^ 

the  Emerging  Sky.  *^''^'  duldlike  conception  of  "the  sky  as 
an  outstretched,  ethereal  expanse,  and 
keeping  distinctly  in  mind  that  the  language  of  Scripture 
on  such  matters  is  not  scientific,  but  optical,  describing 
things  as  they  seem,  let  us  try  to  picture  to  ourselves  the 
process  of  the  Second  Day  as  it  appeared  to  the  Sacred 
Narrator,  when,  from  his  mount  of  inspired  vision,  he 
gazed  down  on  Creation's  unfolding  j)anorama.  Every- 
where is  still  a  shapeless,  desolate  chaos.  True,  the  Breath 
of  God  is  moving  over  the  face  of  the  fluids,  and  marshal- 
ing the  atoms  into  molecules,  the  molecules  into  masses. 
True,  though  the  sun  has  not  yet  appeared,  there  is  light ; 
it  may  be  the  fierce  light  of  incandescence,  atom  clashing 
with  atom,  molecule  with  molecule,  discharging  flashes  at 
every  shock.  But  although  the  organizing  Breath  and  the 
fiery  glow  are  here,  yet  all  is  still  in  seething,  tumultuous, 
chaotic  confusion.  And  now  a  sudden  break  is  seen.  A 
broad,  glorious  band  or  expanse  glides  through  the  angry, 
chaotic  waste,  separating  it  into  two  distinct  masses — the 
lower,  the  heavy  fluids;  the  upper,  the  ethereal  vapors. 
The  band,  still  bearing  upward  the  vapor,  swells  and 
mounts  and  arches  and  vaults,  till  it  becomes  a  concave 
hemisphere  or  dome.  That  separating,  majestic  dimension 
we  cannot  to  this  day  call  by  a  better  name  than  the  Ex- 
panse. And  that  Expanse  God  called  Heavens.  And 
there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  a  Second  Day. 
Such  is  the  panorama  of  the  Birth  of  the  Heavens, 

Still  the  question  recurs,  "  Wliat  are 

TeJm~"^ExpTnsf''^''  ^^   *^   understand   by  the  tenn    'Ex- 
panse ? ' "  Two  answers  have  been  given. 


86  STUDIES  IN  TEE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

a.  —  Tossibly  the         And,  first,  it  has   been   commonly 
Atmosphere.  supposed  that  the  Expanse  means  the 

air  or  atmospheric  heavens.  Kemember  that  thongh 
there  were  ah-eady  the  brooding  Spirit  and  the  mys- 
terious light,  yet  earth  itself  was  still  a  confused,  tu- 
multuous chaos.  And  our  passage,  it  has  been  com- 
monly supposed,  marks  the  first  separation  of  the  ele- 
ments, or  the  beginning  of  tlie  reign  of  Order,  by  repre- 
senting the  atmosphere  as  the  means  of  separating  the 
waters  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  from  the  clouds  or  aerial 
waters ;  in  other  words,  that  it  describes  the  beginning  of 
tlie  process  of  evaporation.  Assuming  for  a  moment  that 
this  is  a  correct  sujiposition,  let  us  briefly  dwell  on  it. 
Perhaps  you  think  that  this  separation  of  the  original  mass 
of  waters  into  two  masses,  the  one  below  and  the  other 
above,  was  but  a  little  thing  to  do,  hardly  worthy  of  occu- 
pying one  of  the  Six  Creative  Days,  Ponder,  then,  what 
a  stupendous  thing  evaporation  means.  Consider  the  vast 
amount  of  water  which  may  be  and  actually  is  stored  up  in 
the  atmosphere.  The  average  quantity  of  aqueous  vapor, 
or  water  held  in  the  air,  is  estimated  to  be  54,460,000,000,- 
000  tons.  The  annual  amount  of  rainfall  is  estimated 
to  be  18C),240  cubic  miles.  If  this  rain  were  at  any  one 
moment  equally  spread  over  the  land  portion  of  the  globe, 
it  would  cover  all  the  Continents — Asia,  Africa,  Europe, 
T^orth  and  South  America — with  water  three  feet  deep. 
Of  course  this  water  did  not  originate  in  the  sky :  some 
time  or  other  it  must  have  ascended.  Peflcct  now  that 
water  in  its  natural  state — i.  e.,  water  as  water — is  773 
times  heavier  than  air.  And  now  suppose  that  you  had 
never  heard  or  conceived  of  the  principle  of  evaporation, 
and  that  you  were  required  to  lift  up  this  vast  mass  of 
54,400,000,000,000  tons  of  water  one  mile,  two,  three,  four, 


GENESIS   OF   THE  SKY.  87 

Hve  miles,  into  tlie  air,  and  keep  it  suspended  there.  The 
hydrostatic  press  is  among  the  most  powerful  of  existing 
machines.  And  yet  the  hydrostatic  press,  gigantically 
powerful  as  it  is,  compared  with  the  force  requisite  to  lift 
the  atmospheric  waters,  is  as  the  pressure  of  a  scarcely-felt 
zephyr  to  the  impact  of  a  thousand  million  broadsides. 
Nevertheless,  what  man,  or  all  mankind  combined,  cannot 
do,  or  begin  to  do,  God  may  have  done  on  the  Second 
Day,  and  in  all  events  does  daily ;  and  this  too  with  infi- 
nite ease  and  noiselessness.  Water  as  vapor  occupies  1,600 
times  larger  space  than  water  as  liquid.  Hence  water  in 
its  vapor  state  is  vastly  lighter  than  air,  and  naturally 
ascends.  That  is  the  whole  secret.  Thus,  by  the  simple, 
noiseless,  generally  invisible  process  of  evajDoration,  this 
stupendous  weight  is  raised  to  and  kept  suspended  at  this 
tremendous  height.  You  know  that  the  countless  rivers 
of  earth  are  evermore,  day  and  night,  pouring  their  vast 
volumes  into  the  seas.  Did  you  ever  think  why  the  seas 
do  not  overflow  ?  E,  g.,  the  narrow  river  Jordan  alone 
annually  discharges  into  the  Dead  Sea,  say,  a  billion  tons 
of  water,  and  the  Dead  Sea  has  no  apparent  outlet ;  and 
yet  it  does  not  overflow.  And  why  ?  Because  as  much 
water  soars  from  it  as  flows  into  it.  Did  you  ever  think 
why  the  vast,  inconceivable  quantity  of  water  suspended  in 
the  air  does  not  fall  on  you  in  smiting,  annihilating  ava- 
lanches ?  It  is  simply  because  the  mists  and  clouds  are  but 
gigantic  aerial  reservoirs  or  tanks  of  water,  oftentimes 
thousands  of  feet  in  thickness  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
acres  in  breadth.  Now,  is  all  this  mere  chance  ?  You 
would  never  imagine  it  about  any  sample  of  human  hy- 
draulics. Suppose  that  some  one  who  had  never  heard  of 
the  system  of  supplying  cities  with  water  should  be  shown 
our  own  Faimiount  Water- Works,  with  its  elaborate  ma- 


88  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

sonries,  and  aqueducts,  and  reservoirs,  and  gauges,  and 
mains,  and  service-pipes,  and  faucets ;  and  suppose  he 
should  see  the  whole  system  in  actual  operation  all  the 
way  from  the  Schuylkill  to  the  chamber  in  which  he  is 
lodging.  Do  you  suppose  that  any  amount  of  argumenta- 
tion would  ever  convince  him  that  the  whole  system  was 
in  no  wise  a  contrivance — nothing  but  pure  accident  ? 
The  very  suggestion  would  demonstrate  to  him  that  the 
arguer  was  an  idiot.  Now  look  at  the  august  system  which 
does  actually  supply  this  vast  earth  of  ours  with  water; 
what  is  it  but  a  gigantic  system  of  Water-AVorks,  occupy- 
ing very  many  thousands  of  miles  in  space,  having  its 
countless  pumps  of  evaporation,  and  reservoirs  of  clouds, 
and  service-pipes  of  rain  ?  And  yet  we  are  gravely  told, 
and  this  by  exceeding  wise  men,  that  this  whole  affair  is 
no  contrivance  by  an  intelligent  Designer — such  as  the 
imscientific  and  superstitious  fancy ;  it  is  only  the  fortu- 
nate result  of  a  blind,  unconscious  movement  of  molecular 
activity.  Nevertheless,  this  bhnd,  unconscious  movement 
of  molecular  activity,  very  remarkable  to  add,  considering 
now  very  blind  and  unconscious  it  is,  persists  in  repeating 
precisely  the  same  movement  of  water-supply  from  season 
to  season,  from  century  to  century,  from  millennium  to  mil- 
lennium. How  much  more  philosophical  the  theory  of  the 
unscientific,  and,  if  you  please,  superstitious  writers  of  an- 
cient Scripture!  "When  God  uttereth  Ilis  voice,  lie 
causeth  the  vapors  to  ascend  from  the  earth,  and  there  is 
a  multitude  of  waters  in  the  heavens  "  (Jer.  x.  13).  "  He 
bindeth  up  the  waters  in  His  tliick  clouds,  and  the  cloud 
is  not  rent  under  them  "  (Job  xxvi.  8),  "  Dost  thou  know 
the  balancings  of  the  clouds  —  the  wonderful  works  of 
Him  Who  is  perfect  in  knowledge  ? "  (Job  xxxvli.  16)  "  He 
draweth  up  the  drops  of  M^ater,  they  pour  down  rain  ac- 


GENESIS   OF   THE  SKY.  gQ 

cording  to  its  vapor,  which  the  skies  do  drop  and  distill 
upon  man  abundantly  "  (Job  xxxvi.  27,  28).  "  Yea,  Thou 
hast  visited  the  earth,  and  watered  it ;  Thou  greatly  en- 
richest  it ;  the  river  of  God  is  full  of  water ;  Thou  water- 
est  tlie  ridges  thereof  abundantly  ;  Thou  makest  the  earth 
soft  with  showers ;  Thou  blessest  the  sjiringing  thereof ; 
Thou  crownest  the  year  witli  Thy  goodness,  and  Thy  paths 
drop  fatness"  (Psalm  Ixv.  9-11).  There  is  a  sense,  then,  in 
which  we  may  truly  speak  of  the  atmosphere  as  an  "  Ex- 
panse," separating  the  waters  into  masses  above  and  below. 
But,  plausible  as  this  interpretation  is,  there  is  this  objec- 
tion to  it :  Our  Chronicler  not  only  represents  the  Expanse 
as  separating  the  waters  into  two  masses  ;  he  also  distinctly 
represents  the  upper  mass  as  being  above  the  Expanse : 
God  "  divided  the  waters  which  were  under  the  Expanse 
from  the  waters  which  were  above  the  Expanse."  And, 
many  a  century  afterward,  a  Psalmist,  summoning  all  crea- 
tion to  praise  the  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  exclaims : 

"Praise  Him,  ye  heavens  of  heavens, 
And  ye  Avaters  that  are  above  the  heavens." 

— (Psalm  cxlviii.  4.) 

And  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  clouds  and  vaporous 
waters  are  not  above  the  atmosphere  ;  they  are  in  it.  How 
constantly  and  densely  the  air  is  charged  with  aqueous 
vapor,  the  condensed  drops  on  the  outside  of  your  ice- 
pitchers,  even  in  the  driest  summer  day,  sufficiently  prove. 
Moreover :  if  Moses  by  his  word  "  Expanse "  meant  the 
atmosphere,  it  is  fair  to  substitute  the  term  atmosphere  for 
the  term  Expanse ;  and  so  our  passage  would  read  thus : 
"■  God  said,  '  Let  there  be  an  atmosphere  in  the  midst  of 
the  watei"s,  and  let  it  divide  waters  from  waters  ; '  and 
God  made  the  atmosphere ;  and  He  divided  the  ^^'aters 


90  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

wliicli  were  under  the  atmosj)here  from  the  waters  which 
were  above  the  atmosphere,  and  it  was  so :  and  God  called 
the  atmosphere  Heavens."  And  this  term  "  Heavens,"  be 
it  observed,  is  the  very  term  which,  in  connection  with  the 
term  "  Earth,"  comprised,  according  to  the  first  verse  of 
the  Creation  Archive,  the  whole  created  universe,  sidereal 
as  well  as  terrestrial :  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth"  (Gen.  i.  i).  In  brief,  if  by  the  word 
Expanse  Moses  meant  the  atmosphere,  would  he  not  have 
said  so,  especially  as  he  already  had  the  word  for  air  at 
command,  having  just  spoken  of  the  Breath  of  God  as 
moving  over  the  face  of  the  waters  (Gen.  i.  2)  ? 

Accordingly  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
.      ro  .a  y      c  ^^^^^  ^^.^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^l^^  term  Expanse  as 

meaning  that  vast,  indefinable  exten- 
sion which  stretches  between  the  earth  and  the  stars ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  ethereal  heavens.  I  have  more  than  once 
alluded  to  the  splendid  Nebular  Hypothesis  :  a  theory 
which,  notwithstanding  it  has  suffered  some  formidable 
assaults,  still  holds  its  own  with  some  of  the  most  eminent 
scientists  of  the  day,  alike  Skeptical  and  Christian.  Accord- 
ing to  this  theoiy,  the  Solar  System  was  originally  a  vast, 
chaotic,  gaseous,  rotating  nebula,  without  form  and  void 
and  dark.  In  process  of  time  it  condensed,  and  in  con- 
densing, accompanied  by  atomic  motion  or  chemical  activ- 
ity, it  became  incandescent ;  and  in  rotating  it  flung  off 
successive  portions  from  its  own  mass,  which  portions  be- 
came in  turn  independent  globes.  We  seem  to  see  evi- 
dences of  this  in  certain  phenomena  even  now  occurring, 
such  as  the  nebulous  stars,  the  comets,  the  rings  of  Saturn, 
tlie  shooting  stars,  perhaps  the  Zodiacal  Liglit.  Now,  if 
this  famous  Nebular  Hypothesis  be  tnie,  tlie  work  of  the 
Second  Day  may  liave  consisted  in  swinging  the  earth 


GENESIS   OF   THE   SKY.  91 

from  the  original  nebula,  and  so  making  a  s^^^cc  or  ex- 
panse between  it  and  the  rest  of  the  universe ;  the  ter- 
restrial fluids  or  condensing  vapors  forming  the  waters 
below  the  Expanse,  and  the  ethereal  fluids  forming  the 
waters  above  the  Expanse.  In  other  words,  it  was  the 
formation  of  the  Sky.  As  such,  the  work  of  the  Second 
Day  was  sublime  beyond  conception.  Not  that  the  Sacred 
Chronicler  consciously  meant  this.  But,  under  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  One,  he  builded  larger  than  he 
knew.  It  is  one  of  the  properties  of  truth  that  it  has  an 
indefinite  expansibility.  Like  the  successive  concentric 
circles  of  undulating  water,  it  evermore  repeats  itself,  and 
in  repeating  itself,  it  eveniiore  widens.  The  Bible  does 
not  profess  to  be  a  scientific  book.  Accordingly  it  reveals 
in  advance  no  scientific  fact.  But  when,  under  the  good 
Providence  of  our  God,  science  does  discover  a  new  fact, 
it  is  also  discovered  that  the  Bible  has  from  the  outset  mor- 
ally implicated  it.  And  among  the  many  blessed  minis- 
tries of  science  none  is  more  sacred  than  this  :  to  decipher 
the  Scriptural  cipher.  In  all  events,  let  us  not  be  wise 
above  what  is  written.  Recall  what  was  said  in  the  be- 
ginning of  this  lecture.  Beware  of  exporting  from  the 
text  what  after  all  is  only  our  own  import.  When  the 
statement  is  doubtful,  instead  of  being  dogmatic,  let  us 
modestly,  calmly  abide  the  tuition  of  events.  One  thing 
is  certain  :  the  God  Wlio  speaks  in  l^ature,  and  the  God 
"VVlio  speaks  in  Scripture,  is  one  and  the  same  God,  and 
cannot  contradict  Himself.  And  sooner  or  later  humanity 
will  acknowledge  that  the  two  declarations  are  a  spiritual 
rhyme,  a  Divine  melody. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Sky. 
IT.  Moral  Mean-  And  now  what  are  the  lessons  of  the 

ing  of  the  Story.      Story  ?  It  teaclies  many :  e.  g.,  it  teaches 


92  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  great  lesson  of  Individuality.  But  as  tins  will  come  be- 
fore us  still  more  appropriately  in  our  next  lecture,  let  us 
reserve  our  comments  till  then.  Meantime  let  us  take  our 
chief  lesson  to-day  from  the  central  point  of  our  passage. 
That  central  point  is  this :  "  God  called  the  Expanse  Heav- 
en."' In  like  manner  also  every  human  being  has  over  him 
a  possible  firmament.  Happy  the  day  when  the  mists  up- 
lift, and  he  awakens  to  the  vision  and  sense  of  the  arching 
Heavens  ! 

And,  first,  the  Heavens  suggest  the 
1  Ti '°  '  T  ^"°'  soul's   true   direction :    it   is    upward. 

gests  Human  Aspira-  ^ 

tions.  To  express  moral  excellence  by  terms 

of  altitude  is  an  instinct.  How  natu- 
rally we  use  such  phrases  as  these  :  "  Exalted  worth,  high 
resolve,  lofty  purpose,  elevated  views,  sublime  character, 
eminent  purity  !  "  How  naturally,  too,  we  use  opposite 
phrases:  "Low  instincts,  base  j^'^^ssions,  degraded  charac- 
ter, groveling  habits,  stooping  to  do  it ! " 

"  Down  with  the  traitor, 
Up  with  the  flag !  " 

In  answer  to  the  same  instinct,  the  Jews  always  spoke 
of  going  up  to  their  Holy  City  Jerusalem,  even  though  in 
doing  this  they  may  have  actually  made  a  geographical 
descent,  as  was  the  case  with  the  dwellers  in  Bethlehem 
and  Hebron.  In  like  manner,  pagans  instinctively  local- 
ize their  gods  on  mountain  crests ;  for  example,  the  Per- 
sians on  Caucasus,  the  Hindoos  on  Meru,  the  Greeks  on 
Olympus.  So  the  Jews  themselves,  when  fallen  into 
idolatry,  consecrated  high  places  and  hill-tops.  Doubtless 
here,  too,  is  the  secret  of  the  arch,  and  especially  the 
spire,  as  the  symbol  of  Christian  architecture :  the  Church 
is  an  aspiration.     Even  the  very  word  "  heaven  "  itself, 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SKY.  93 

like  the  Greek  Ouranos,  means  height,  and,  according  to 
the  etymologists,  is  an  Anglo-Saxon  word,  lieo-fan ;  mean- 
ing what  is  heaved  np,  lifted,  heav-en — ^heaven.  Well, 
then,  may  the  vaulting  sky  stand  as  the  symbol  of  human 
aspiration.  The  true  life  is  a  perpetual  soaring  and  dom- 
ing ;  or  rather,  like  the  mystic  Temple  of  Ezekiel's  vision, 
it  is  an  inverted  spiral,  forever  winding  upward,  and 
broadening  as  it  winds  (Ez.  xli.  1).  The  soul's  tnie  life  is 
a  perpetual  exhalation ;  her  affections  evermore  evaporat- 
ing from  her  own  great  deep,  and  mounting  heavenward 
in  clouds  of  incense.  Ah,  it  is  not  when  man  stoops 
downward  to  delve  amid  earthly  treasures,  it  is  not  even 
when  he  strides  forward  to  execute  broad  schemes,  that  he 
is  greatest :  man  is  greatest  when,  looking  upward,  he  takes 
to  himself  wings'  and  flies.  The  yearnings  after  a  better, 
purer,  truer,  diviner  life,  the  aspirations  heavenward  :  these 
are  the  true  birds  which  God  has  made  to  fly  above  the 
earth,  along  the  Expanse  of  the  heavens.  Yes,  hail  to  thee, 
thou  skylark  of  the  soul ! 

"  Higher  still  and  higher, 
From  the  earth  thou  springest, 

Like  a  cloud  of  fire ; 
The  blue  deep  thou  wingest, 
And  singing  still  dost  soar,  and  soaring  ever  singest." 

— (Shelley.) 

.    ,  ^.       „  Secondly :  As  the  Heavens  sue^gest 

2.  And  Divine  Per-   ,  .     ^.  ,.       ^_.    *=''=' 

fections  human  aspirations,  so  do  the  Heavens 

suggest  their  complement.  Divine  Per- 
fections. It  is  true,  e.  g.,  in  respect  to  God's  Immensity. 
Nothing  seems  so  remote  from  us,  or  gives  such  an  idea 
of  vastness,  as  the  dome  of  heaven.  Climb  we  ever  so 
high  on  mountain-top,  the  stars  are  still  above  us.  Pierce 
we  ever  so  far  wdtli  telescopic   ken,  beyond   its  utmost 


94  STUDIES   IN   TOE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

range  still  arches  the  same  ever-receding  vault.  It  is  the 
symbol  of  God's  infinite  Altitude.  As  the  heavens  are 
higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  God's  ways  higher  than  man's 
ways,  God's  thoughts  than  man's  thoughts  (Is.  iv,  9).  He 
is  the  high  and  lofty  One  "Who  inhabiteth  eternity.  Whose 
name  is  Holy,  Who  dwelleth  in  the  high  and  holy  place 
(Is.  ivii.  15).  As,  then,  we  think  of  His  exceeding  height, 
how  vividly  does  the  measureless  distance  between  sky 
and  earth  picture  man's  exceeding  littleness,  even  in  the 
moments  of  his  supremest  aspiration  !  Again  :  It  is  tme 
in  respect  to  God's  Sovereignty.  I^othing  seems  to  be  so 
absolutely  beyond  human  control  or  modification  as  the 
sun  and  stars  of  heaven. 

"  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades, 
Or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ? 
Canst  thou  bring  forth  Mazzaroth  in  his  season, 
Or  guide  Arcturus  with  his  sons  ? 
Knowest  thou  the  ordinances  of  the  heavens, 
Or  canst  thou  set  their  dominion  over  the  earth  ?  " 

— (Job  xxxviii.  31-33.) 

Yet  it  is  the  high  and  lofty  One  Wlio  created  all  these, 
Who  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number,  Who  calleth  them 
all  by  name,  by  the  greatness  of  His  might,  and  because  He 
is  strong  in  power  (Is.  xl.  26).  What  to  man  is  canopy,  to 
God  is  throne.  He  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth,  and 
the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers  (Is.  xl.  22).  Yea, 
heaven  is  His  throne,  and  earth  is  His  footstool  (Is.  ixvi.  i). 

"  Sing  unto  God  then,  O,  kingdoms  of  the  earth, 
Sing  praises  to  the  Lord  ; 

To  Him  Who  rideth  upon  tlie  heaven  of  heavens  of  old : 
Ascribe  ye  strength  unto  God : 
II is  excellency  is  over  Israel, 
And  Uis  strength  is  in  the  skies." 

— (P.sALM  Ixviii.  32-34.) 


GENESIS  OP  THE  SKY.  95 

Again :  It  is  true  in  respect  to  God's  Sj)irituality. 
Nothing  seems  so  like  tliat  rarity  of  texture  which  we  in- 
stinctively ascribe  to  pure,  incorporeal  spirit,  as  that  subtile, 
tenuous  ether  which  it  is  believed  pervades  the  clear,  im- 
palpable sky,  and,  indeed,  all  immensity.  And  in  this  sub- 
tile ether,  so  invisible  to  sight,  so  impalpable  to  touch,  so 
diifused  throughout  earth  and  the  spaces  of  the  heavenly 
Expanse,  we  may  behold  a  symbol  of  that  invisible,  intan- 
gible, ever-omnipresent  One  Who  Himself  is  Spirit ;  and 
"Who,  accordingly,  can  be  worshiped  only  in  spirit  and 
tnith  (John  iv,  24).  Again  :  It  is  true  in  respect  to  God's 
Purity.  Nothing  is  so  exquisite  an  emblem  of  absolute 
spotlessness  and  eternal  chastity,  as  the  unsullied  expanse 
of  heaven,  untrodden  by  mortal  foot,  unswej^t  by  aught 
but  angel  wings.  Even  the  ancients  called  it  the  Empy- 
rean, as  though  it  had  been  formed  out  of  pure  fire  or  liglit. 
How  fit  and  glorious  an  emblem,  then,  the  sky  is  of  the 
Purity  of  Him  Who  is  said  to  charge  His  angels  with  folly 
(Job.  iv.  18),  and  in  Whose  sight  the  very  heavens  are  de- 
clared to  be  unclean  (Job  xv.  15) !  Again :  It  is  time  in 
respect  to  God's  Beatitude.  We  cannot  conceive  a  more 
perfect  emblem  of  felicity  and  moral  splendor  than  light. 
Everywhere  and  evermore,  among  rudest  nations  as  well 
as  among  most  refined,  light  is  instinctively  taken  as  the 
first  and  best  possible  emblem  of  wdiatever  is  most  intense 
and  perfect  in  blessedness  and  glory.  And  whence  conies 
light — the  light  which  arms  us  with  health,  and  fills  us 
with  joy,  and  tints  fiower  and  cloud  Avith  beauty,  and  floods 
mountain  and  mead  with  splendor — but  from  the  sky  ? 
Well,  then,  may  the  shining  heaven  be  taken  as  the  elect 
emblem  of  Ilim  Wlio  decketh  Himself  with  light  as  with 
a  robe  (Psalm  civ.  2),  Who  dwelleth  in  light  which  no  man 
can  approach  unto  (i  Tim.  vi.  16),  Who  Himself  is  the  Father 


96  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  "WEEK. 

of  lights  (James  i.  17) ;  nay,  Who  is  Light  itself  (i  John  i.  5), 
Himself  taking  the  place  of  candle  and  moon  and  sun  in 
the  City  of  the  Foundations  (Rev.  xxi.  23).  Once  more  :  It 
is  tiiie  in  respect  to  God's  Obscurity.  For  though  God 
Himself  is  light,  yet  there  are  times  when  even  the  very 
heavens  themselves  obscure  His  brightness.  There  are 
times  when  clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him 
(Psalm  xcvii.  2),  when  He  layeth  the  rafters  of  His  palace  in 
the  upper  waters,  and  maketh  the  clouds  His  chariot,  and 
walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  (Psalm  civ.  3),  and  hath 
His  way  in  the  whirlwind,  and  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of 
His  feet,  and  His  pavilion  round  about  Him  are  dark  wa- 
ters and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies  (Nah,  i.  3).  Tea,  there  are 
times  when  it  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  thing  (Piov. 
XXV.  2),  and  there  is  a  hiding  of  His  power  (Hab.  iii,  4).  Happy 
the  man  who  when  Jehovah  thundereth  in  the  heavens,  and 
the  Most  High  shooteth  out  lightnings,  hailstones,  and  coals 
of  fire  (Psalm  xviii.  13, 14),  and  darkness  is  under  His  feet,  still 
sees  through  the  thick  clouds  the  opening  heavens,  and 
the  Glory  of  God,  and  Jesus  standing  in  the  midst  of  the 
Glory  (Acts  vii.  55,  56).  Yea,  praise  the  Lord,  ye  fire  and 
hail,  ye  snows  and  vapors,  ye  stormy  winds,  fulfilling  His 
word  (Psalm  cxlviii.  8).  Sucli  are  some  of  the  particulars  in 
which  the  heavenly  Expanse  is  the  symbol  of  Infinite 
Deity.  And  all  this  we  hint,  whether  consciously  or  not, 
every  time  we  pronounce  those  wonderful  words.  Our 
Father  Who  art  in  heaven  (Matt.  vi.  9).  Heavenly  Father  : 
this  sums  up  the  meaning  of  the  Sky.  Such  are  some  of 
the  lessons  of  the  Heavenly  Expanse. 

In  Conclusion.  And  now  two  thoughts  in  conclusion. 

1.  — Jesus  Christ         And,  first,  a  thought  of  the  past. 

the  Nexus  of  Heaven  Since  God  is  SO  very  great,  how  can  we 

and  Earth.  ^jyer  hope  to  reach  Him?     Since  His 


GENESIS   OF  THE   SKY.  97 

throne  is  so  high  and  lifted  up  (Is.  vi.  i),  even  above  the 
heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens,  liow  can  we  with  our 
poor  feet,  or  even  with  the  wings  of  aspiration,  ever  hope 
to  rest  in  His  bosom,  or  even  kiss  His  shining  feet  ?  Be-  • 
hold,  then,  a  condescension  as  measureless  as  the  Infinitude. 
Thus  saith  the  high  and  holy  One,  Who  inhabiteth  eter- 
nity, Whose  name  is  Holy :  I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy 
place,  also  with  the  humble  and  contrite  of  spirit,  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  the  humble  ones,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of 
the  contrite  (Is.  ivii.  15).  Since  we  cannot  soar  to  Infinite 
God,  Infinite  God  stoops  to  us.  Yea,  in  the  Person  of 
the  Incarnate  Son,  He  has  bowed  the  heavens  and  come 
down.  The  Immanuel  of  the  manger,  His  brow  of  the 
Heavens,  Heavenly,  His  feet  of  the  earth,  earthy,  is  the 
blessed  meeting-place  of  the  Infinite  and  the  finite ;  the 
rapturous  trysting-place  of  Human  aspiration  and  Divine 
response.  Ay,  the  prophecy  of  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan 
has  already  been  fulfilled.  Yerily,  verily,  we  have  seen 
heaven  opening,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  de- 
scending upon  the  Son  of  Man  (John  i.  5i).  And  so  in  the 
stooping  God  of  the  Stall,  and  the  soaring  Man  of  the 
Cloud,  even  in  Jesus  the  ISTazarene,  the  Infinite  and  the 
finite  are  in  peace  : 

"  And  Heaven  comes  down  our  souls  to  greet, 
And  Glory  crowns  the  mercy-seat." — (Stowell). 

„  Finally,  a  thought  for  the  future. 

Every  time  you  go  forth  under  the  open 
sky,  be  it  cerulean,  or  be  it  overcast,  let  it  be  to  you  an 
eternal  beckoner  upward.  God  forbid  that  you  should 
miss  its  meaning  so  deeply  as  to  echo  the  Boyal  Dane's 
lament :  "  This  most  excellent  canopy,  the  air,  look  you, 
this  brave  o'erhanging  firmament,  this  majestical  roof 
5 


98  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

fretted  with  golden  tire — wliy,  it  appears  no  other  thing 
to  me  than  a  foul  and  pestilent  congregation  of  vapors " 
("Hamlet,"  ii.  3).  All,  friend,  none  but  that  Iniinite  God,  of 
Whom  the  infinite  sky  is  the  symbol,  can  ever  satisfy  your 
own  mighty  aspirations.     For 

'•  Every  inward  aspiration  is  God's  angel  undefiled, 
And  in  every  '  O,  my  Father,'  slumbers  deep  a  '  Here,  My  child.'  " 

— (DsCHELnDEDDlN.) 

In  yon  measureless,  ever-receding  dome,  you  will  ever 
find  a  limitless,  exhilarating  arena  for  all  that  in  you  is  most 
noble  and  stout  and  true  and  Godward.  Every  time,  then, 
that  you  go  forth  under  heaven's  arch,  accept  the  sky  as 
life's  real  meaning.  On  its  azure,  ever-soaring,  infinite 
vault  evermore  read  the  sun-emblazoned  legend,  Excelsior. 
May  the  Lord  of  the  skies  evermore  call  the  welkin  of 
your  soul  Heavens !  Thus,  evermore  aspiring,  it  shall 
happen  that  when  the  Lord  Himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven,  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  an  archangel,  and 
with  the  tnimpet  of  God,  thou,  too,  with  all  His  ransomed 
ones,  shall  be  caught  up  in  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air ;  and  so  shalt  thou  ever  be  with  the  Lord  (i  Thess.  iv.  16, 17). 
Meantime,  evermore  sing  the  Bird  Song  of  the  soul : 

"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee ; 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross, 

That  raiseth  me, 
Still  all  my  song  shall  be, 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee. 

"  Or,  if  on  joyful  wing. 
Cleaving  the  sky. 
Sun,  thoon,  and  stars  forgot, 
Ul)ward  I  fly. 


GENESIS  OF   THE   SKY.  99 

Still  all  my  song  shall  be, 

Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee." 

— (Mks.  S.  F.  Adams.) 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUEE  VI. 

GENESIS    OF   THE   LANDS. 

"And  God  said,  'Let  the  waters  under  the  heavens  be  gathered 
together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear : '  and  it  was  so. 
And  God  called  the  dry  land  Earth  :  and  the  gathering  together  of 
the  waters  called  He  Seas:  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good," — Gen- 
esis 1.  9,  10. 

Translating  this  ancient,  childlike,  pictorial  language 
into  that  of  modem  scientific  prose,  our  Archive  reads 
thus  :  The  Creator  outlined  the  general  features  of  Physi- 
cal Geography,  by  causing  the  lands  to  emerge  from  the 
primeval  ocean. 

I.— Explanation  First  of  all,  let  us  attend  to  the  Ex- 

of  the  Passage.        planation  of  the  Passage. 

Peminding  you  of  what  was  said  in 
l.-Panorama    of  ^j^^  introductory  Lecture  touching  the 
Emergent  Lands.  "^  .  ^ 

phenomenal  or  scenic  language  of 
Scripture  on  such  matters,  let  us  now  forget  modern  at- 
tainments, and,  going  back  to  the  dawn  of  humanity's  in- 
fancy, stand  with  the  Inspired  Seer  on  his  mount  of  pano- 
ramic vision.  And  an  awful  vision  it  is.  Tnie,  the  Breath 
of  God  is  still  moving  over  the  face  of  the  abyss.  True, 
there  is  still  the  incandescent  light.  True,  the  Expanse  of 
the  arching  heavens  has  separated  the  fluids  into  masses — 
the  terrestrial  and  the  ethereal.     Nevertheless,  the  globe 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LANDS.  101 

itself  is  still  a  vast,  reliefless,  water j  waste.  ]^o  continent 
is  seen,  no  mountain,  no  island,  no  rock,  no  shore,  no  bay, 
no  surf  ;  nothing  but  a  universal,  shoreless,  desolate  Blank. 
And  now  is  heard  again  the  Omnific  Word :  "  Let  the  wa- 
ters under  the  heavens  gather  themselves  to  one  place,  and 
let  the  dry  land  appear  !  "  And,  lo,  the  waters  do  hasten 
to  their  place,  and  the  dry  land  does  appear.  And  a  sub- 
lime spectacle  it  is — this  resurrection  of  the  terrestrial 
forms  out  of  Ocean's  baptismal  sepulchre — this  emergence 
of  island,  and  continent,  and  mountain — this  heaving  into 
sight  of  Britain  and  Madagascar  and  Cuba  and  Greenland, 
of  Asia  and  Africa  and  Australia  and  America,  of  Alps  and 
Himalayas  and  Andes  and  Sien-a  ]S"evada  ;  more  thrilling 
still,  of  Ararat  and  Sinai  and  Pisgah  and  Carmel  and  Le- 
banon and  Zion  and  Olivet. 

No  wonder  that  the  holy  poets  so  often  allude  to  the 
majestic  event.    Let  two  or  three  examples  suffice.    Thus : 

"  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof, 
The  world,  and  they  who  dwell  therein : 
For  He  hath  founded  it  upon  the  seas, 
And  estahlished  it  upon  the  floods." — (Psalm  xxiv.  1,  2.) 

Again  : 

"  Jehovah  is  a  great  God, 
And  a  great  king  above  all  gods  : 
In  His  hand  are  the  recesses  of  the  earth, 
And  the  treasures  of  the  mountains  are  His : 
The  sea  is  His,  and  He  made  it, 
And  His  hands  formed  the  dry  land."—  (Psalm  xcv.  3-5.) 

Once  more : 

"  Thou  didst  cover  it  with  the  deep  as  with  a  garment : 
The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains  : 
At  Thy  rebuke  they  fled, 
At  tlie  voice  of  Thy  thunder  they  hasted  away : 


103  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

The  mountains  rose,  the  valleys  sank, 

To  the  place  which  Thou  didst  found  for  them  : 

A  bound  didst  Thou  set,  that  they  should  not  pass  over, 

Should  not  return,  to  cover  the  earth." — (Psalm  civ.  6-9.) 

2.— Geologic  Con-         And  With  this  poetic  Archive  of  the 
firmation.  Emergent  Lands  the  Geologic  Eecord 

entirely  agrees.  Whatever  doubts  there  may  be  touching 
the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  or  the  original  condition  of  our 
globe,  the  geologists  agree  that  there  has  been  a  time  in 
the  history  of  this  earth  when  its  surface  was  almost  entire- 
ly oceanic,  and  that  subsequently  the  lands  emerged  in 
consequence  either  of  the  subsidence  of  the  ocean  level,  or 
of  the  upheaving  energy  of  fiery  or  chemical  forces.  In 
fact,  it  is  this  assumption  of  a  primitive  universal  ocean, 
charged  with  mineral  particles,  and  depositing  them  through 
untold  ages,  thus  forming  the  sedimentary  or  stratified 
rocks,  which  rocks  were  subsequently  uplifted  above  the 
ocean  by  sub-aqueous  forces — it  is  this  very  assumption,  I 
say,  of  a  primitive  universal  ocean,  subsequently  relieved 
by  visible  land  areas,  which  makes  it  possible  that  there 
should  be  any  such  thing  at  all  as  the  science  of  Geology. 
How  could  the  geologist  make  out  his  magnificent  geo- 
logical calendar,  if  it  were  not  for  the  successive  layers  of 
deposited  or  stratified  rocks  of  the  lands  upheaved  into 
view  from  the  depths  of  old  Ocean's  sepulchre  ?  And  so, 
at  this  very  point,  the  ancient  seer  and  the  modern  skep- 
tic agree  ;  both  say  that  the  earth  was  formed  out  of  water 
and  by  means  of  water  (2  Peter  iii.  5).  But  they  diifer  as  to 
the  explanation.  The  ancient  seer  said,  "  The  secret  of 
Nature  is  God."  The  modern  skeptic  says,  "  The  secret 
of  Nature  is  Law."  And  yet  both  speak  truly,  for  Truth 
is  evermore  unutterably  large  :  God  is  the  cause  of  Na- 
ture, and  Law  is  God's  means.    In  still  briefer  words,  Law 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LAXDS.  103 

is  God  in  movement.  Ay,  from  Ilim,  and  tlirougli  Ilim, 
and  to  Him,  are  all  things  :  to  Whom  be  the  giory  for  ever. 
Amen  (Rom.  xi.  36). 

"  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 
.—  enc  ccncc  o    j^^^  ^y^Yl  mifflit  He  delight  in  it.    For  a 

the  Arrangement.  "  .,..,. 

blessed  thing  this  divme  distribntion 
of  lands  and  seas  was.  I  do  not  think  that  we  sufficiently 
realize  its  importance.  Let  ns  halt,  then,  for  a  moment  to 
glance  at  some  of  tlie  essential  features  of  the  Physical 
Geography  of  our  globe.  For  what  I  am  about  to  say  on 
this  point,  I  am  chiefly  indebted  to  Prof.  Arnold  Guyot's 
very  suggestive  and  valuable  work,  entitled  "  The  Earth 
and  Man."  Look,  first,  at  the  general  arrangement  of 
Land  and  Water.  The  surface  of  this  globe  measures 
196,900,000  square  miles.  Of  this,  144,000,000  ai-e  water, 
and  52,900,000  are  land  ;  that  is,  dividing  the  surface  of 
the  globe  into  a  hundred  parts,  twenty-seven  parts  Mxmld 
be  land  and  sevent}^- three  water.  But  you  interrupt  me 
with  a  question  :  ''  Is  not  this  an  enormous  waste  ?  Would 
it  not  have  been  better  had  the  proportion  been  reversed, 
so  that,  instead  of  the  land's  being  one-fourth  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  globe,  it  should  have  been  three-fourths  ?  " 
But  you  forget  the  momentous  part  which  the  ocean  plays 
in  the  economy  of  life.  Absorbing  and  radiating  heat 
less  readily  than  land,  the  ocean,  with  its  great  marine 
cuiTents  and  tides,  is  the  grand  regulator  of  earth's  cli- 
mates, without  which  regulation  the  land  itself  would  soon 
become  uninhabitable.  Moreover :  were  it  not  for  the  im- 
mense extent  of  the  ocean  area,  there  woidd  not  be  evap- 
orating surface  enough  to  feed  those  aerial  tanks  which 
are  needed  to  meet  the  constant  enormous  demand  for 
rains  and  dews — a  method  of  water  supply  absolutely  in- 
dispensable to  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  so  to  human 


104  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

life  itself.  Again  :  look  at  tlie  breaking-up  of  the  surface 
of  tlie  lands  into  inequalities  of  mountain  and  valley,  high- 
land and  plain.  It  is  precisely  this  inequality  of  surface 
which  tempers  the  action  of  the  heat  and  the  winds,  and 
which  makes  possible  the  magnificent  river  systems  of  the 
continents.  Let  the  earth  be  but  an  unbroken  table-land, 
and  it  would  swiftly  become  an  uninhabitable  desert. 
Once  more :  look  at  the  horizontal  contour  of  the  conti- 
nents, and  observe  what  an  immense  factor  this  has  been 
in  the  history  of  mankind.-  Look  at  Africa  with  its 
11,314,300  square  miles,  and  16,200  miles  of  coast-line. 
And  then  look  at  Europe,  with  its  3,505,200  square  miles, 
and  19,800  miles  of  coast-line.  In  other  words,  though 
Europe  is  three  times  smaller  than  Africa,  yet  it  has  4,000 
more  miles  of  sea-coast,  Africa  having  but  one  mile  of 
coast-line  to  every  896  square  miles  of  area,  while  Europe, 
including  her  islands,  has  one  mile  of  sea-coast  to  every 
143  square  miles  of  surface.  And  now,  which  continent 
has  produced  the  historic  nations  of  the  race  :  vast  Africa, 
with  its  unbroken,  comparatively  short  coast-line  of  16,000 
miles,  or  little  Europe,  with  its  sinuous,  comparatively  vast 
coast-line  of  20,000  miles,  everywhere  indented  with  pen- 
insulas and  promontories  and  bays  and  harbors,  and  so  in- 
viting the  interjjlay  of  commerce  and  civilization  ?  Are 
Greece  and  Italy  and  France  and  Germany  and  Great 
Britain  in  Africa,  or  in  Europe  ?  Such  are  a  few  of  the 
more  remarkable  features  of  Physical  Geography.  When 
we  remember  how  very  significant  they  are,  and  how  pro- 
lific in  momentous  results  :  when  we  remember  how  pro- 
foundly and  beneficently  the  seas  affect  the  lands  ;  how 
immensely  the  ocean  mitigates  earth's  climate  ;  how  indis- 
pensable its  vast  surface  is  to  the  evaporation  of  water 
suflicient  to  supply  the  needed  dews  and  rains  and  rivers 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LANDS.  105 

and  lakes  and  springs  ;  how  the  relief  of  the  continents — 
the  range  of  their  mountains  and  plateaus  and  lowlands — 
controls  their  drainage,  and  shapes  their  vast  river  systems 
and  water-basins  :  when  we  remember  that  "  the  depres- 
sion of  a  few  hundred  feet,  which  would  make  no  change 
in  the  essential  forms  of  the  solid  mass  of  the  globe,  would 
cause  a  great  part  of  Asia  and  Europe  to  disappear  beneath 
the  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  would  reduce  America  to  a 
few  large  islands,"  or  that  "  an  elevation  of  350  feet  is 
sufficient  to  reduce  the  mean  temperature  of  a  place  by 
one  degree  of  Fahrenheit,  that  is  to  say,  the  effect  is  the 
same  as  if  the  place  were  situated  seventy  miles  farther 
north  : "  when  we  remember  that  the  effect  of  placing 
Italy  and  Greece  in  the  north  of  Europe,  instead  of  in  the 
south,  would  be  to  turn  them  into  Scandinavia  or  Kam- 
tchatka,  or  that  the  placing  of  Europe  east  of  Asia,  in- 
stead of  west,  would  turn  it  into  Siberia,  or  that  the  flow- 
ing of  the  Mississippi  northward  into  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
instead  of  southward  into  the  Mexican  Gulf,  would  turn 
the  larger  part  of  the  United  States  into  a  desert :  when 
we  remember  that  the  very  forms  of  the  lands  —  their 
size,  shape,  elevation,  relative  position,  indentation  of 
coast-line,  direction  of  mountain-range,  and  the  like — de- 
termine the  climate,  the  productions,  the  industries,  the 
health,  the  habits,  the  civilization  of  each  country :  when 
we  remember  all  this,  we,  too,  may  share  in  the  Creator's 
delight,  and  with  Him  pronounce  the  gathering  together 
of  the  waters  and  the  appearing  of  the  dry  land  very 
good. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Land. 

^^     ,,     ,,,  And  now,  what  are  the  moral  les- 

n.— Moral  Mean-  .  ,,         ,         ,       t       -n 

ing  of  the  Story.       ^^"^    ^^  ^^'^   ^^^'T  ?      I   ^vill    mention 
two. 


106  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

And,  first,  the  Birth  of  Individiial- 

1. — Birth  of  ludi-    '•  t?  \  .i  •  -    .      j_ 

.,    ,.  ity.     J  or  observe  the  precise  point  at 

viduahty.  i  .  i  .  T 

which  we  have  arrived  in  these  medita- 
tions on  the  Creative  Week ;  it  is  the  point  of  differentia- 
tion, or  division  of  forces.  That  we  may  conceive  it  more 
clearly,  recall  what  has  already  been  achieved  :  first,  there 
Avas  the  creative  origination  of  the  elements  of  the  uni- 
verse out  of  nothing ;  secondly,  there  was  the  formless, 
orderless,  chaotic,  night-clad  abyss  ;  thirdly,  there  was  the 
organizing  Breath  of  God  ;  fourthly,  there  was  the  liglit 
of  chemical  activity  ;  fifthly,  there  was  the  dividing  Ex- 
j)anse,  separating  as  by  a  measureless,  dome-shaped  parti- 
tion the  fluid  mass  into  separate  masses,  so  tliat  Earth 
sweeps  into  view  a  distinct,  independent  globe  ;  and  now, 
sixthly,  there  is  the  separation  on  the  surface  of  the  globe 
itself,  the  Avaters  grouping  themselves  in  the  places  ap- 
pointed for  tliem,  and  the  land  areas  emerging.  Thus  our 
passage  carries  out  and  intensifies  the  lesson  already  hinted 
in  our  last  study  :  the  great  principle  of  Individualism. 
For  individuality  implies  diversity,  or  ratlier  unity,  the 
unity  consisting  of  diversities  in  equipoise  or  melody.  For 
a  unity  is  something  more  and  higher  than  a  bare  unit. 
Consider  for  a  moment  the  difference  between  them.  A 
unit  is  a  single  one,  surveyed  externally,  in  isolation  from 
other  ones  ;  a  unity  is  a  single  one,  surveyed  internally  in 
its  parts,  cacli  and  every  part  being  a  mutual  adjustment  to 
a  common  end.  A  unit  is  a  bare  one  ;  a  unity  is  many  and 
different  things  in  a  state  of  oneness.  A  unit  is  one  in  the 
sense  of  numerical  singleness  ;  a  unity  is  one  in  the  sense 
of  harmonious  pluralness.  Tims  a  drop  of  water,  when 
considered  in  distinction  from  other  di'o])s  of  water,  is  a 
unit ;  but  the  same  drop  of  water,  when  considered  in  its 
parts  as  made  of  eight  weights  of  oxygen  and  one  weight 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LANDS.  107 

of  hydrogen,  is  a  unity.     So  the  earth  of  the  Second  Crea- 
tive Day,  surveyed  in  distinction  from  the  sun  and  pLinets, 
was  a  unit ;  hut  the  earth  of  the  Third  Creative  Day,  sur- 
veyed in  itself,  as  a  system  of  seas  and  hmds  poised  in  re- 
ciprocal activities,   was  a  unity.     So  each  member  of   a 
church,  in  distinction  from  otlier  members,  is  a  imit ;  but 
the  church,  as  a  whole,  composed  of  many  members,  all 
of  whom  are  living  in  a  state  of  oneness,  is  a  unity.     Be- 
hold, how  good  it  is,  and  how  pleasant,  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity  (Psalm  cxxxiii.  i) !     But  unity  implies 
something  more  than  harmonious  variety  of  parts  ;  it  im- 
])lies  the  subordination  of  these  various  parts  to  a  common 
end.     It  is  this  harmonious  conspiracy  of  diverse  parts  to 
a  common  end  which  makes  the  parts,  as  a  whole,  a  unity. 
Thus  the  separate  parts  in  a  marble  quarry  are  not  a  unity  ; 
tliey  are  only  units  ;  but  actually  bring  them  together,  and 
iit  them  together  in  due  proportion  for  the  j)urpose  of  tcm- 
])le  service,  and  they  become  a  unity.     Apply,  mnv,  these 
thoughts  to  that  possible  instance  of  culminating  unity — a 
man.     lie  is  not  all  ej'e,  or  ear,  or  hand,  or  f(»ot ;  he  is  not 
all  conscience,  or  reason,  or  scnsibilit_y,  or  will ;  he  is  spirit 
and  soul  and  body  (i  Tbcss.  v.  23),  each  in  mutual  adjust- 
ment, aiul  all  in  nmtual  cooperation  for  a  common  end, 
i.  e.,  life.     That  is  to  say,  he  is  an  Individual.     This  is 
a  term  -which  you  would  never  apply  to  a  homogeneous 
substance,  e.  g.,  a  stone.     For  as  uniformity  is  a  mark  of 
the  lowest  stage  of  existence,  so  variety  is  a  mark  of  the 
higliest.     As  we  ascend  the  scale  of  being,  life  becomes 
more  complex  and  dilTerenced.     Indeed,  one  of  the  hajipi- 
ost  definitions  of  life  is  this  :  "  Life  is  the  mutual  exchang- 
ing of  relations."     How  wonderfully  life  complicates  and 
diversifies  as,  starting  with  the  l)ioplast  in  tlie  lowest  forms 
of  animal  existence,  we  trace  its  ever  nudtiplying  ditferen- 


108  STUDIES   IX   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tiations  in  the  amoeba,  the  poljp,  the  clam,  the  spider,  the 
sahnon,  the  lizard,  the  eagle,  the  lion,  Man !  Again,  look- 
ing at  man  himself,  contrast  the  child  of  barbarism  and  the 
child  of  civilization.  How  simple  the  wants  of  the  savage  ; 
how  few  and  rude  his  implements ! — you  might  almost  gath- 
er them  on  this  platform.  On  the  other  hand,  how  divei'si- 
iied  the  wants  of  the  civilized  man  ;  how  numberless  and 
complicated  his  implements! — the  Exhibition  grounds  of 
our  glorious  Centennial  could  not  contain  them.  In  brief, 
differentiation  is  the  very  condition  of  life.  Everything 
grows  by  multiplication  of  organs  and  functions,  and  their 
consignment  to  specific  ends.  Develoj^meut  is  by  special- 
ization. How  wonderfully  this  comes  out  in  the  growth 
of  the  germinating  vesicle  of  the  egg !  And  the  higher 
the  grade  of  being,  the  more  individualized  as  well  as 
numerous  its  organs  and  functions.  This,  then,  is  the 
point  to  which  our  passage  brings  us  ;  it  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sense  of  Individuality.  Beginning,  I  say.  For 
the  sense  of  individuality  is  not  a  sudden  attainment.  It  is 
a  process  more  or  less  slow.  How  happily  the  Laureate 
has  described  it,  in  lines  as  profound  as  musical ! 

"  The  baby  new  to  earth  and  sky, 

What  time  his  tender  pahn  is  prest 
Against  the  circle  of  tlie  breast, 
Has  never  thought  that  '  this  is  I.' 

"But  as  he  grows  he  gathers  iiinch, 
And  learns  the  use  of  '  I '  and  '  me,' 
And  finds  '  I  am  not  what  I  see, 
And  other  than  the  things  I  touch.' 

"  So  rounds  lie  to  a  separate  mind. 

From  whence  clear  memory  may  begin. 
As  through  the  frame  that  binds  liim  in. 
His  isolation  grows  defined." — ("  Ix  Memori.vm,"  xWv.) 


GENESIS   OF   THE   LANDS.  109 

In  fact,  it  is  this  sense  of  individuality  which  marks 
off  man  from  the  lower  forms  of  life.  Spealdng  accu- 
rately, you  would  never  apply  the  term  to  a  plant,  or  even 
an  animal.  And  the  higher  the  character,  the  more  dif- 
ferenced and  specialized  it  becomes  :  for,  remember,  de- 
velopment is  by  specialization  ;  moreover,  it  is  this  special- 
ization which  gives  to  each  man  his  characteristic  ;  that  is 
to  say,  his  character.  Peter,  like  John,  and  Paul,  and 
everybody  else,  was  a  man.  But  to  call  him  simply  a 
man  does  not  distinguish  him  from  other  men.  Peter 
M'as  an  individualized  man ;  that  is,  as  the  old  Schoolmen 
used  to  say,  Peter  had  Peterness ;  and  it  was  this  Peter- 
ness  which  constituted  him  not  only  a  man,  but  also  Peter- 
man.  Great,  then,  is  the  hour  when  man  wakes  to  the 
sense  of  his  own  individuality.  Yea,  happy  the  day  when 
the  Lord  of  man  speaks  to  the  chaos  of  thy  soul,  saying : 
"  Let  the  waters  under  the  heavens  gather  themselves  to- 
gether into  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear ! " 
For  observe  the  effectiveness  of  a  duly  grouped,  coordi- 
nated man.  How  is  it  that  the  steam-engine,  small  com- 
pared with  the  mass  it  moves,  is  able  to  drive  the  mighty 
craft,  with  her  ponderous  cargo,  in  teeth  of  billow  and 
tempest  from  continent  to  continent?  It  is  not  merely 
because  it  is  made  of  iron  and  worked  by  the  expansive 
power  of  steam ;  it  is  also  because  piston  and  cylinder, 
beam  and  connecting-rod,  crank  and  fly-wheel,  valve  and 
condenser,  pump  and  governor,  all  work  in  reciprocal  ad- 
justment and  harmonious  conspiracy  to  a  common  end, 
namely,  to  send  the  steamer  across  the  Atlantic.  But  let 
some  slight  derangement  of  the  machinery  take  place — 
eome  valve  refuse  to  work,  some  cog  interfere,  some  pin 
give  way — and  the  engine,  which  was  strong  enough  to 
send  the  Great  Eastern  speeding  like  a  leviathan  through 


110  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  billows,  is  liardly  strong  enough  to  propel  a  tug  across 
the  Schuylkill.  So  it  is  with  man.  Let  his  heart  be  one 
with  itself  ;  let  it  be  a  unity,  as  well  as  a  unit ;  let  its  seas 
of  sensibility  group  themselves  into  their  appointed  places, 
and  its  lands  of  activity  duly  emerge ;  in  short,  let  him, 
like  the  Psalmist,  praise  his  God  with  his  whole  heart  ; 
and  he  will  conquer  in  Time's  Great  Campaign.  But  let 
him  have  a  disheveled  heart  ;  let  him  halt  between  two 
opinions  ;  let  him  be  a  double-minded  man,  unstable  in 
all  his  ways  (James  i.  8) ;  and  he  will  l)e  swept  before  the 
breatli  of  Apollyon  as  the  withered  leaf  before  the  hurri- 
cane. Thrice  happy,  then,  the  day  when  the  Lord  of  souls 
sets  in  peaceful  equilibrium  the  chaos  of  thy  soul ;  when 
Conscience  approves  Desire,  and  Desire  takes  delight  in 
Conscience ;  when  Duty  and  Inclination  henceforth  and 
for  evermore  walk  in  saintly  tM'inship ;  when  Faith  tempers 
Keason,  and  Reason  buttresses  Faith  ;  when  Imagination 
gives  wing  to  Judgment,  and  Judgment  guides  Imagina- 
tion ;  when  Hope  draws  courage  from  Memory,  and  Mem- 
ory fortifies  Hope  ;  when  Humility  soars  into  Confidence, 
and  Confidence  leans  on  Humility ;  when  Reverence 
chastens  Joy,  and  Joy  gladdens  Reverence  ;  when  every 
Faculty  helps,  and  is  helped  by  every  other ;  when  all  the 
ends  are  means,  and  all  the  means  are  ends  ;  Mlien  the 
whole  nature  is  in  very  deed  a  Cooperative  Society — every 
sensibility  and  power  of  the  soid  being  evermore  engaged 
in  one  and  the  same  holy,  blessed  conspiracy,  even  the 
gloiy  of  its  Maker  and  Saviour.  Then  shall  the  soul  be 
indeed  Jerusalem,  City  of  Peace.  O  Lord  of  Love,  and 
K  ing  of  Beauty  !  unite  my  heart,  even  now,  that  so  my 
earthly  life  may  be  in  very  truth  the  prelude  of  my  heav- 
enly song !  This,  then,  is  the  first  lesson  of  our  text : 
The    Birth    of    Lidividuality,  or    a    heart   set    in    Unity. 


GENESIS   OF  THE   LANDS.  HI 

The  burnt-offering   that  God  loves  is  a  wliolc  burnt-of- 
ferijig. 

But  our  passage  teaches  a  second,  kin- 

2.— The    Birth   of     ,       ,    ,  ^         '^  .  ^      i;    xi      \c     ^ 

T,  ^  dred  lesson,  c-rowmo;  out  oi   the  hrst. 

Duty.  '   ^  o 

It  is  this  :  The  Birth  of  Duty.  For 
each  man  is  in  himself  a  little  world ;  first,  there  is  the 
night-mantled  chaos  of  unregulated,  unconscious  powers ; 
next,  there  is  the  quickening,  grouping,  coordinating  force 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  next,  there  is  the  incandescent  glow 
of  nascent,  tumultuous  moral  activity ;  next,  there  is  the 
awakening  sense  of  the  doming  Expanse,  or  man's  relation 
to  God  ;  and  next,  there  is  the  awakening  sense  of  dis- 
tributed forces,  or  man's  relation  to  man.  For  the  indi- 
vidualization of  each  man  is  not  so  much  for  the  man's 
.own  sake  as  for  the  sake  of  all  men.  Yes,  brother,  that 
is  a  mighty  hour  in  your  life  when  you  awake  for  the  first 
time  to  the  sense  of  the  truth  that  there  are  others  in  the 
world  besides  yourself.  And  this  is  impossible  except  it 
comes  to  you  through  sense  of  separation,  segmentation, 
isolation,  individualization  ;  even  as 

"the  past  will  always  win 
A  glory  from  its  being  far, 
And  orb  into  the  perfect  star 

AVe  saw  not  when  wc  moved  therein." 

— ("  In  Memori.vm,"  xxix.) 

And  with  this  sense  of  individuality  begins  the  sense 
of  responsibility,  the  sense  of  duty,  the  sense  of  self-sacri- 
fice; in  a  single  word,  the 'sense  of  Manhood.  Ay,  great 
is  the  hour  when  we  awake  to  the  sense  of  Humanity. 

"  'Tis  the  sublime  of  man, 
Our  noontide  majesty,  to  know  ourselves 
Parts  ami  proportions  of  one  wondrous  whole ! 


112  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

This  fraternizes  man,  this  constitutes 

Our  charities  and  bearings."— (S.  T.  Coleridge.) 

You  see  liow  broadly  the  field  opens. 
a.—    e     rue      -  j^  £^^,    ^|^^  ^^^^  takes  US  into  the  very 

trill  sm 

heart  of  the  Christian  Religion.  Even 
the  great  Comte,  in  whose  elaborate  system  of  religion  the 
Worshij)  of  Humanity  lies  as  the  corner-stone,  discerned, 
as  though  from  afar,  this  splendid  tnitli ;  for  he  taught 
that  the  key  to  social  regeneration  is  to  be  found  in  what 
he  called  Altruism,  or  the  victory  of  the  sympatlietic  in- 
stincts over  self-love.  Would  to  God  that  the  scales  had 
fallen  from  his  eyes,  and  that  he  had  recognized  in  the  al- 
together lovely  One  of  Nazareth  and  Calvary  the  true, 
infinite  Altruist !  For  Christianity,  bearing  the  name  of 
her  Founder,  Christ,  has,  on  the  one  hand,  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  spirit  of  a  selfish  monasticism  ;  she  flies  the 
desert  and  the  cloister,  to  nestle  in  the  family  and  brood 
over  the  market-place.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  Christi- 
anity has  nothing  in  common  with  the  spirit  of  a  selfish 
communism  ;  instead  of  saying  with  the  socialist,  "  All 
thine  is  mine,"  she  says,  with  her  Founder,  "  All  mine  is 
thine."  Christianity's  characteristic  motto,  distinguishing 
her  from  all  other  religions  and  jjhilosophies,  is  this  :  "  We 
are  members  one  of  another"  (Eph.  iv.  25),  Modern  Sociol- 
ogy juts  out  into  the  sea  of  Time  two  opposite  promon- 
tories :  the  promontory  of  Volatilization,  or  the  dispersion 
of  the  individual  into  the  community,  and  the  promontory 
of  Solidification,  or  the  concentration  of  the  community 
into  the  individual.  Rome,  alike  the  ancient  civil  and  the 
modern  churchly,  rej^resents  the  former  extreme,  dissipat- 
ing the  personal  into  the  general.  France,  with  her  ideal 
notions  of  communism,  represents  the  latter  extreme,  con- 
densing the  general  into  the  personal.     The  Church  of  the 


GENESIS   OF   THE   LANDS.  113 

living  God,  as  answering  to  the  Ideal  of  lier  Divine  Found- 
er and  Head,  is  blending  the  two  extremes,  evermore  say- 
ing :  "  "We  are  members  of  one  another."  Hence  she  has 
lessons  for  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men,  and  this  al- 
ways with  reference  to  one  another.  To  the  Hnsband,  she 
says  :  "  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved 
the  church,  and  gave  Himself  for  her"  (Eph.  t.  22).  To 
the  Wife,  she  says:  "Wives,  submit  yourselves  to  your 
own  husbands,  as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord"  (Col.  iii.  I8).  To  the 
Father,  she  says :  "  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  to 
wrath,  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord  "  (Eph.  vi.  4).  To  the  Child,  she  says  :  "  Chil- 
dren, obey  your  parents  in  all  things  in  the  Lord :  for 
this  is  well  pleasing  unto  Him  "  (Col.  iii.  20).  To  the  Em- 
ployer, she  says  :  "  Masters,  give  to  your  servants  that 
which  is  just  and  equal,  forbearing  threatening,  knowing 
that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven,  and  that  there  is 
no  respect  of  persons  with  Him  "  (Col.  iv.  i).  To  the  Em- 
ploye, she  says :  "  Servants,  obey  your  masters  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,  not  with  eye-service  as  men-pleasers,  but  in 
singleness  of  heart,  fearing  the  Lord  "  (Col.  iii.  22).  To  the 
Ruler,  she  says  :  "  Be  wise,  ye  kings ;  be  instructed,  ye 
judges  of  the  earth  (Psalm  ii.  lO) :  judge  righteously,  plead 
the  cause  of  the  poor  and  needy  "  (Prov.  xxxi.  9).  To  the 
Ruled,  she  says:  "Citizens,  submit  yourselves  to  every 
ordinance  of  man,  for  the  Lord's  sake ;  whether  it  be  to 
the  king,  as  supreme,  or  to  governors,  as  being  sent  by 
him  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  for  the  praise 
of  them  that  do  well "  (i  Peter  ii.  13).  To  the  Nations,  she 
says  :  "  ISTations,  beat  your  swords  into  ploughshares,  your 
spears  into  pnniing-hooks,  lift  not  up  the  sword  against 
each  other,  learn  war  no  more "  (Is.  ii.  4).  To  all  man- 
kind, she  says  :  "  Honor  all :  love  the  Brotherhood  :  fear 


114  rUDIES   L\   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

God  :  honor  tlie  King  "  (i  Peter  ii.  17).  In  short,  slie  teaches 
that  each  individual  exists  for  the  total,  even  as  each  mem- 
ber exists  for  the  body.  And  how  admirably  she  teaches 
it !  Listen  to  a  classic  paragraph  from  the  writings  of  that 
Apostle  who  penetrated  most  deeply  into  the  Genius  of 
Christianity,  and  felt  most  pressingly  its  power,  a  para- 
graph singularly  pertinent  to  the  lesson  of  the  hour :  "  The 
body  is  not  one  member,  but  many.  If  the  foot  should 
say,  '  Because  I  am  not  the  hand,  I  am  not  of  the  body,' 
is  it  therefore  not  of  the  body  ?  And  if  the  ear  should 
say,  '  Because  I  am  not  an  eye,  I  am  not  of  the  body,'  is  it 
therefore  not  of  the  body  ?  If  the  whole  body  were  an 
eye,  where  would  be  the  hearing?  If  the  whole  were 
hearing,  where  would  be  the  smelling  ?  But  now  God  hath 
set  the  members,  every  one  of  them,  in  the  body,  as  it  hath 
pleased  Him.  And  if  they  were  all  one  member,  where 
would  be  the  body  ?  But  now  there  are  many  members, 
yet  but  one  body.  And  the  eye  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  '  I 
have  no  need  of  thee ; '  nor  again  the  head  to  the  feet,  '  I 
have  no  need  of  you.'  I^ay,  still  more,  those  members  of 
the  body  which  seem  to  be  feeble  are  necessary ;  and  those 
which  we  think  to  be  the  less  honorable  parts  of  the  body, 
upon  these  we  bestow  more  abundant  honor ;  and  our 
uncomely  parts  have  more  abundant  comeliness,  for  our 
comely  parts  have  no  need.  But  God  hath  tempered  the 
body  together,  having  given  more  abundant  honor  to  the 
part  Avhicli  lacked,  that  there  may  be  no  schism  in  the 
body,  but  that  the  members  may  have  the  same  care,  one 
for  another ;  and  if  one  member  suffereth,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it ;  or  if  one  member  is  honored,  all  the  mem- 
bers rejoice  with  it"  (i  Cor.  xii.  14-26).  It  is  the  Creator- 
Itedeemer"'s  redistribution  of  the  Seas  and  the  Lands  on 
the  planet  of  His  Church. 


GENESIS   OF  THE  LANDS.  115 

6.— The  Spirit's  Al-         And  with  tliis  fact  of  personal  in- 
lotraent.  dividualization  for  the  sake  of  the  com- 

mon weal,  beautifully  agrees  St,  Paul's  doctrine  of  the 
Charisms  or  Spiritual  Gifts.  Listen  to  him  again  :  "  Now, 
there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  hut  the  same  Spirit ;  and 
there  are  diversities  of  ministrations,  but  the  same  Lord  ; 
and  there  are  diversities  of  operations,  but  it  is  the  same 
God  who  worketh  all  in  all.  But  to  each  one  is  e-iven 
the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  for  the  profit  of  all.  For 
to  one  is  given  through  the  Spirit  a  word  of  wisdom  ;  and 
to  another  a  word  of  knowledge,  according  to  the  same 
Spirit ;  and  to  another  faith,  by  the  same  Spirit ;  and  to 
another  gifts  of  healing,  by  the  same  Spirit ;  and  to  another 
working  of  miracles  ;  and  to  another  prophecy  ;  and  to  an- 
other discernment  of  spirits  ;  and  to  another  divers  kinds  of 
tongues  ;  and  to  another  interpretation  of  tongues.  But  all 
tliese  worketh  the  one  and  self -same  Spirit,  distributing  to 
each  one  severally  as  He  willeth  "  (i  Cor.  xil.  4-11).  Friends, 
is  not  all  this  true  ?  Look  around  you  on  Christian  Society 
as  it  actually  is.  Do  all  have  the  same  gifts  ?  Are  all  apos- 
tles ?  Are  all  prophets  ?  Are  all  teachers  ?  Are  all  workers 
of  miracles  ?  Have  all  gifts  of  healing  ?  Do  all  speak 
with  tongues  ?  Do  all  interpret  (1  Cor.  xii.  29,  so)  ?  Verily, 
the  one  and  self -same  Spirit  doth  allot  to  each  one  severally 
as  He  willeth.  Yes,  there  is  the  great,  indiscriminate, 
monotonous  ocean  of  the  Church  at  large,  the  obscure  por- 
tion of  its  membership  always  in  the  vast  majority ;  never- 
theless, evermore  tempering  Humanity's  climate  ;  evermore 
evaporating  in  clouds  of  incense  and  aspiration  and  en- 
treaty ;  evermore  coming  down  again  on  the  thirsty  world 
in  rains  of  benediction  and  dews  of  grace.  And  there  are 
the  islands  of  Christian  genius,  flecking  here  and  there  the 
immense,  indiscriminate  deep,  sometimes  verdant,  some- 


116  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

times  rocky,  always  impressive  because  isolated  and  solitary. 
And  there  are  the  vast  continents  of  the  denominations ; 
the  countless  valleys  and  modest  lowlands  luxuriant  with 
the  prayers  and  examjjles  of  Christ's  obscure  ones;  the 
bubbling  springs  and  winding  rills  and  leaping  brooks 
and  nishing  rivers  rich  in  fertilizing  charities ;  the  many 
deserts  of  false  j^rofession,  ever  and  anon  green  and  fra- 
grant M'ith  oases  of  Christian  character  and  deed ;  the 
broad  table-lands  golden  with  the  harvests  of  the  Chris- 
tian rich  and  influential ;  the  lofty  mountain-ranges  radiant 
with  sacred  theologians  and  holy  orators  ;  the  very  vol- 
canoes lurid  with  an  Elijah  and  a  John  the  Baptist,  a  Luther 
and  a  Moody.  Even  the  very  sands  themselves  have  their- 
blessed  jjart  to  play.  What  King  Canute,  enthroned  by 
the  seaside,  could  not  do,  Jehovah,  our  God,  has  ever 
been  doing. 

"  Will  ye  not  fear  Me,  saith  the  Lord  ? 
Will  ye  not  tremble  at  My  presence? 
WLo  have  appointed  the  sand  as  a  bound  to  the  sea, 
A  perpetual  barrier,  which  it  cannot  pass  ? 
Though  the  waters  thereof  toos  themselves,  they  do  not  prevail, 
Though  they  roar,  they  cannot  pass  over  it." — (Jeeemiah  iv.  22.) 

"What,  then,  is  the  lesson  at  this  point  of  discourse  ? 
Simply  this  :  Cheerfully  use  your  own  gift  in  the  place 
appointed  for  you,  and  cheerfully  recognize  the  gifts  of 
others  in  the  places  appointed  for  them.  Having,  then, 
gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace  given  us,  whether 
prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of 
the  faith  ;  or  ministry,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering  ;  or 
he  that  teacheth,  on  his  teaching ;  or  he  that  exhorteth, 
on  his  exhortation  (Rom.  xii.  6-8).  Ay,  on  earth,  not  less 
than  in  heaven,  the  Father's  house  hath  many  mansions 

(John  xiv.  2). 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LANDS.  117 

Thus  our  text  is  the  complement  of 

Our  Text  the  Com-  rr^,        i        •        tt 

plement  of  our  Last,  our  last :  The  dommg  Heavens  gave  us 
God  :  the  Emerging  Lands  give  us  Man. 
Of  what  use  is  it  to  evaporate  into  the  cloud,  if  the  cloud 
does  not  condense  into  the  rain  ?  That  text  said  :  Upward ! 
This  text  says :  Forward !  And,  practically  speaking,  the 
moral  life  blends  the  two  directions  into  an  ascending  di- 
agonal, soaring  aslant  even  as  does  the  bird.  The  arching 
sky  awakens  the  sense  of  Divine  Fatherhood :  and  so  we 

say Heavenly  Father.     The  distribution  of  Sea  and  Land 

awakens  the  sense  of  Human  Brotherhood  :  and  so  we  say 
—Our  Heavenly  Father.  And  the  higher  our  zenith,  the 
broader  our  horizon.  Here  is  the  key  to  the  story  of  St. 
Paul :  he  soared  very  high— therefore,  he  saw  very  far : 
he  saw  very  far— therefore,  he  was  apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 
Alas,  how  different  are  most  other  lives  :  nothing  but  stag- 
nant, malarial  pools,  without  a  solitary  islet  or  even  rock 
to  reheve  the  dreary  waste !  Ah,  here  is  Life's  great  battle, 
the  Duel  of  the  1  and  the  Not-I.  Christianity  reverses  the 
doctrine  of  Natural  Selection,  or  Survival  of  the  Fittest. 
Instead  of  crushing  out  the  feebler,  she  instinctively  selects 
them  for  her  special  care,  bestowing  upon  the  less  honor- 
able parts  of  the  body  more  abundant  honor ;  so  that  our 
uncomely  parts  have  more  abundant  comeliness  (i  Cor.  xii. 
22-24).  May  God  give  you  and  me  grace  evermore  to  do 
to  others  as  He  evermore  does  to  us !  So  shall  each  of  us 
find  this  great  fact  of  Individuality  a  boon  and  not  a  curse 
on  that  approaching  Day  of  Judgment  when  every  one  of 
us  must  give  account  of  himself  to  God. 

This,  then,  is  the  stirring  thought  of 
A  Summary.  ^^^^  ^^^^^^ .  Individualization  for  the  sake 

of  Mankind.     Go  forth  then,  brother,  inspired  with  the 
majestic  thought  that  you  are  a  Personal  I'nit- a  man 


118  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

among  men— individualized  from  the  mass  of  Humanity 
for  the  sake  of  Humanity  and  Humanity's  King.  Yes, 
happy  the  day,  let  me  again  say  it,  when  God  says  to  thee  : 
"  Let  the  waters  gather  themselves  to  one  place,  and  let  the 
dry  land  ajDpear."  Thrice  happy  the  day  when  thou  obey- 
est,  looking  ujDward  to  the  opening  Heavens  and  outward 
to  the  broadening  Horizon.  This,  then,  is  the  twofold 
lesson  of  the  day.  "  Hear,  O  Israel !  The  Lord  our  God 
is  one  Lord :  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind, 
and  with  all  thy  strength  :  this  is  the  first  and  great  Com- 
mandment. And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  namely  this  : 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two 
commandments  hang  all  the  Law  and  the  Propliets  "  (Matt. 

xii.  84-40). 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTURE  YII. 

GENESIS    OF   THE    PL.VJS'TS. 

"And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yield- 
ing seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,  whose  seed 
is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so.  And  the  earth  brought 
forth  grass,  and  herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind,  and  the  tree  yield- 
ing fruit,  whose  seed  was  in  itself,  after  his  kind  :  and  God  saw  that 
it  was  good.  And  the  evening  and  the  moi'ning  were  the  tliird  day." 
— Genesis  i.  11-13. 

As  is  our  wont  in  tlicse  studies,  let  us  attend,  first,  to 
tlie  Explanation  of  the  Passage,  and,  secondly,  to  its  Moral 
Lessons. 

I.— Explanation         And,  first,  the  Explanation  of  the 
of  the  Passage.         Passage. 

To  this  end,  let  us  again  stand  witli 
1.- Panorama  of  ^i^^  Sacred  Seer  on  his  Mount  of  Pano- 

the  Emcririn'r  Plants.  .    -,7-.  .  -ttti     1  ii  i    ii      -r>        j.i 

ramie  vision.  VVhat  though  the  i>reatli 
of  God  has  been  moving  over  the  face  of  the  fiuids,  or- 
ganizing the  chaotic  universe  ?  What  though  the  light  of 
chemical  activity  has  lighted  up  the  Cimmerian  Abyss  i 
"What  though  the  sky,  gliding  in  and  arching  through  the 
fluid  mass,  has  separated  the  Earth  into  an  independent 
globe  ?  "What  though  the  sea  has  received  its  bounds,  and 
the  mountains  tower,  and  the  lowlands  spread,  and  the 
rivers  flow  ?  All  is  still  a  lifeless  waste — no  germ,  no  liv- 
ing thing  exists.     From  pole  to  pole  nothing  is  seen  but 


120  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

surging  billows  and  dull-brown  soil  and  naked  adamantine 
rock.  And  now  sounds  again  the  Deific  AVord  :  "  God  said : 
'  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and 
the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  its  kind,  whose  seed  is  in 
itself,  above  the  earth.'  "  And,  lo,  it  is  so.  On  all  sides 
spring  up,  as  though  by  magic,  the  floating  algae,  the  cir- 
cling lichens,  the  luxuriant  mosses,  the  branching  ferns, 
the  waving  grasses,  the  graceful  palms,  the  kingly  cedars, 
the  iris-hued  flowers.  And  a  blessed  vision  it  is  :  this 
grateful  exchange  of  dull  uniformity  and  barren  naked- 
ness for  vegetable  colors — for  car2)ets  of  emerald,  and 
tapestries  of  white  and  azure  and  crimson  and  orange  and 
purple.  Even  the  God  of  beauty  Himself  feels  that  it  is 
good.  And  there  is  evening  and  there  is  morning,  a  Third 
Day.  Such  is  the  Vision  of  the  Birth  of  Vegetation.  And 
now  let  us  dwell  on  it  somewhat  in  detail. 

„     ^,     „.  ,     ,         "  And  God  said  :  '  Let  the  earth  put 

2.— The    Birth   of    „     ^,      ,       ^  ,  .  ,        \  . 

Li£g  torth  shoots,  sprout,  germinate  : '  and  it 

was  so."  It  was  the  first  appearance  of 
that  mysterious  thing  which  we  call  Life.  How  shall  we 
account  for  its  introduction  ?  Naturally  or  supernaturally  ? 
Spontaneously  or  executively  'i  Atheistically  or  Divinely  ? 
Observe  what  the  precise  question  is.  I  am  not  speak- 
ing now  of  transmitted  life,  the  life  by  inheritance  from 
ancestors.  I  am  speaking  of  the  first  Life,  the  Life  of  that 
primal,  original  Plant  which  existed  before  it  yielded  its 
first  seed.  Whence  came  that  original  first  Life  ?  Did  it 
originate  itself,  spontaneously  evolving  itself  from  blind, 
dead  matter  and  force  ?  Here  is  the  colliding  point  be- 
tween atheist  and  tlieist.  Observe  what  the  exact  problem 
is.  All  living  beings,  alike  plants  and  animals,  are  essen- 
tially composed  of  four  chemical  elements — carbon,  hydro- 
gen, oxygen,  and  nitrogen — combined  in  proportions  vary- 


GENESIS  OF  THE   PL.VNTS.  121 

ing  with  the  character  of  the  Hving  substance.  Suppose, 
now,  you  take  into  your  laboratory  these  four  elements  in 
whatever  quantities  you  please,  and  combine  them  in  what- 
ever proportions  you  please.  Can  you  make  out  of  these 
four  elements  a  single  di'op  of  blood,  a  solitary  microscopic 
diatom  ?  Here,  then,  is  the  problem.  There  has  been  a 
time  in  the  history  of  the  globe,  so  geologists  tell  us,  when 
there  was  not  in  existence  a  single  living  thing.  But  car- 
bon and  hydrogen  and  oxygen  and  nitrogen  were  there. 
All  at  once  there  spi-ung  up  in  earth's  virgin  soil  a  combi- 
nation of  these  elements  in  the  living  fomi  of  a  blade  of 
grass.  AVliat  now  was  the  new  subtile  force  which  turned 
that  dead  carbon  and  dead  hydrogen  and  dead  oxygen  and 
dead  nitrogen  into  this  living  thing  which  we  call  a  Plant  ? 
Whence  came  that  original  iirst  Life  ?  The  answer  to  this 
question  marks  the  boundaiy-line  between  theism  and  athe- 
ism, between  plan  and  chance,  between  personal  will  and 
impersonal  law,  between  first  cause  and  eternal  necessity, 
between  God  and  zero.  AVhence,  then,  came  that  first 
Life  ?  Is  there  any  better  answer,  any  answer  more  pro- 
foundly jihilosophieal  or  gloriously  satisfying,  than  the 
childlike  answer  of  the  far-oif,  hoary  witness  of  the  Crea- 
tion Panorama  ?  "  God  said :  '  Let  the  earth  bring  forth 
grass.'  God  said :  '  Let  the  waters  swarm  with  the  mov- 
ing creature  that  hath  life.'  God  said :  '  Let  fowl  fly 
above  the  earth  in  the  expanse  of  heaven.'  God  said : 
'  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature  after  his 
kind.'"  This  "God  said,"  this  Eternal  Word,  Who  in 
the  beginning  was  with  God  and  was  God  (John  i.  i) :  this 
"  God  said  "  of  Moses  and. "  God  AVord  "  of  John— this  it 
was  Who  on  the  Third  Day  spoke  life-givingly,  genninat- 
ingly,  spermatically  ;  and,  lo,  in  a  way  perhaps  forever 
inscrutable  to  us,  the  Immaterial  took  on  itself  the  mate- 
6 


122  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

rial,  the  Invisible  swathed  itself  with  the  visible — the  Life 

organized  itself  into  the  body. 

"  And  God   said  :    '  Let  the   earth 

^'~   J.  , '  °'     !    put  forth  shoots  : '   and  the  earth  did 
Matrix  of  the  riant.     ^ 

put  forth  shoots.  Are  we  to  under- 
stand these  words  literally  ?  Manifestly  not.  Eemember 
that  in  studying  these  Creation  Archives  we  are  moving, 
not  in  the  region  of  philosophical  statements,  but  of  pic- 
torial ;  not  in  the  realm  of  science,  but  of  panorama.  The 
Sacred  Chronicler  is  using  language  popularly,  just  as  we 
ourselves  use  it  in  this  very  matter  of  the  soil's  j)i'oduc- 
tiveness.  Yery  scientific  although  we  are,  yet  do  we  not 
to  this  day  talk  of  the  soil  as  though  it  were  a  living  thing 
and  bringing  forth  fruit  of  itself,  using  such  words  as  pro- 
ductive, teeming,  fruitful,  exuberant  ?  And  just  because 
the  soil  does  seem  to  bring  forth  plants  as  though  they 
were  her  own  oifsf>ring,  there  is  everywhere,  alike  among 
savages  and  among  sages,  a  sort  of  idolatry  of  the  soil  as 
being  Mother  Nature.  And  yet  we  know  better.  "We 
know  that  the  soil  is  not  the  source  of  vegetation,  it  is 
only  its  sphere  ;  it  is  not  the  sire  of  the  plant,  it  is  only  its 
matrix.  Nevertheless  it  is  quite  proper,  using  the  language 
of  phenomenon,  to  speak  of  the  earth  as  bringing  forth 
grass  and  herb  and  tree.  Nobody  but  the  willfully  unfair 
can  misunderstand  the  Sacred  Iweciter  here. 

"  And  God  said  :  '  Let  the  earth  put 
4.-rruit  after  its  ^^^.^j^  ghoots,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  the 
fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  its  kind, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself.'  And  the  earth  brought  forth 
shoots,  the  herb  yielding  seed  after  its  kind,  and  tree 
yielding  fruit,  in  which  is  its  seed,  after  its  kiiul."  Dwell 
for  a  moment  on  these  profound  phrases  :  "  Fruit  after  its 
kind,  whose  seed  is  iu  itself  :  "  phrases  which,  in  light  of 


GENESIS  OF   THE   PLANTS.  123 

the  modern  discussion  toucliing  the  Origin  of  Species,  are 
profounder  than  ever.  Observe,  first,  what  an  immense 
advance  in  the  career  of  Creation  is  marked  by  these 
plirases  :  "  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  yielding  fruit  after  its 
kind."  These  are  expressions  you  would  never  apply  to 
anything  inorganic,  e.  g.,  a  mountain,  a  bowlder,  a  molecule, 
an  atom.  It  is  only  to  living  things,  which  do  have  seed 
in  themselves,  and  which  do  yield  fruit  after  their  kinds, 
that  you  apply  these  expressions.  Accordingly,  these 
phrases  mark  the  eternal  boundary  between  the  organic 
world  and  the  inorganic  ;  between  life  and  absence  of  life. 
Again :  observe  how  strikingly  these  phrases :  "  yielding 
fruit  after  its  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself : "  involve  the 
doctrine  of  the  Invariability  of  Species.  "  Ah,  but  this 
doctrine,"  you  tell  me,  "  is  stoutly  contested  in  these  days." 
It  is  a  proj)er  point,  then,  to  arrest  our  steps,  and  glance 
at  the  modern  Hypothesis  of  Evolution.  At  the  very 
outset,  then,  let  it  be  remarked  that  clearness  of  conception 
here  is  absolutely  essential.  For  it  is  quite  astonishing  to 
notice  how  loosely  many  intelligent  persons  use  such  words 
as  "  species,  variety,  development,  evolution,"  etc.  In  the 
first  place,  look  at  the  word  "  Species."  A  Species  is  a 
purely  subjective  thing,  an  Ens  ratlonis,  a  mental  out- 
line, an  ideal  paddock.  Who  ever  saw  or  touched  a 
species  ?  To  talk,  then,  of  the  Origin  or  Transmutation 
of  Species  is  to  talk  of  a  subjective,  ideal  thing,  which 
never  has  had,  and  never  can  have,  any  actual,  objective 
existence  in  the  world  of  matter.  If  there  is  ever  any 
"■  transmutation,"  the  transmutation  is  a  concept  existing 
solely  in  the  mind  of  the  conceiver.  In  other  words,  the 
affair  is  an  affair  of  metaphysics,  not  of  physics.  Here, 
as  elsewhere  in  such  matters,  let  us  abide  by  the  glorious 
rigor  of  the  scientific  method.     Physical  Science,  we  are 


124  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

proudly  told,  deals  only  with  objective,  concrete  realities ; 
it  lias  nothing  to  do  with  abstractions  or  concepts  ;  not  but 
that  concepts  or  abstract  terms  are  useful,  and  even  indispen- 
sable, as  tools,  as  "  working  hypotheses."  And  with  con- 
cepts as  such — i.  e.,  with  abstract  terms  as  instruments  of 
thought  and  investigation — Physical  Science  does  have  to 
do.  Nevertheless,  concepts  are  not  objective  existences ; 
abstract  terms  are  not  concrete  realities.  And  "  Species  " 
is  an  abstract  term,  or  concept.  Accordingly,  the  only 
evolution  or  transmutation  which  Physical  Science,  as  an 
affair  of  observation  and  induction,  can  consistently  con- 
sider, is  the  evolution  or  transmutation  of  an  objective, 
concrete,  definite  plant  or  animal.  And  precisely  here, 
where  the  proof  should  be  decisive,  is  the  weak  point  in 
the  Hypothesis  of  Evolution.  And  no  chain  is  stronger 
than  its  weakest  link.  Again  :  look  at  the  word  "  Evolu- 
tion." It  is  another  lamentable  instance  of  the  loose  use 
of  terms.  To  evolve  is  to  unroll,  unfold,  develop.  But 
you  cannot  unroll  what  was  not  inrolled  ;  you  cannot  un- 
fold what  was  not  infolded  ;  you  cannot  develop  what  was 
not  enveloped.  And  yet  these  exact  Gentlemen  of  the  Bal- 
ance and  Micrometer  confound  unrollment  with  transition, 
development  with  transmutation.  And  just  because  these 
exact  gentlemen  use  terms  so  inexactly,  it  happens  that 
the  term  "  Evolution  "  has  become  a  very  Shibboleth  and 
Ariadne  clew.  Enough  that  we  oracularly  pronounce  the 
M'ord  "  Evolution,"  and  we  imagine  that  we  have  the  "  Open 
Sesame,"  and  have  explained  everything.  Again  I  insist 
on  the  rigor  of  the  scientific  method.  You  cannot  unroll 
what  was  not  inrolled.  Evolution  not  only  implies  in- 
volution, it  Jilso  implies  that  the  involution  is  equal  to 
the  evolution.  You  cannot  evolve  a  pound  out  of  an 
ounce.     Here  is  the  reason  why,  in   the  Lecture  on  the 


GENESIS  OF  THE  PLANTS.  iok 

Genesis  of  the  Universe,  I  persisted  in  endeavoring  to  sliow 
that  the  doctrine   of    Germs   does    not   account   for  the 
weiglit  of  the  Universe.     The  thing  to  account  for  is  not 
the  size  or  the  shape— the  thing  to  account  for  is  the  weight. 
If  the  Universe  has  been  evolved  from  a  few  germs,  and 
from  nothing  else,  then  the  weight  of  the  germs  must  be 
equal  to  the  weight  of  the  Universe.     You  cannot  extract 
a  ton  out  of  a  kilogramme.     If  a  definite  jjlant  is  devel- 
oped into  another,  if  a  specific  animal  is  evolved  into  an- 
other, then  the   two  plants,  the  two  animals,  are  equiva- 
lents in  weiglit.    If  the  diatom  is  developed,  however  si- 
lently and  indirectly,    into   the  cedar— if  the  amoeba   is 
evolved,  however  gradually  and  intermediately,  into  the 
elephant — then  the  diatom  must  weigh  as  much  as  the  cedar, 
the  aniojba  must  be  as  heavy  as  the  elephant.     We  propose 
to  be  scientific  ;  and  therefore  we  subject  the  Hypothesis 
of  Evolution  to  the  scientist's  peculiar,  decisive  test— the 
test  of  the  Scales.     Nevertheless,  there  is  a  sense  in  which 
I  must  accept  the  doctrine  of  Evolution.    It  is  in  the  orio-i- 
nal,  etymological  sense,  viz.,  unrolling.     I  believe  that  the 
Process  of  Creation  was  the  unrolling  of  a.  Divine  Plan 
or  Conception.     In  this  sense  of  the  word,  and  it  is  the 
primary,   fair   sense,  I   am  proud  to   confess   myself   an 
Evolutionist.     "  Premeditation  prior  to  Creation : "  this  is 
the  favorite  formula  of  Louis  Agassiz  in  his  famous  Essay 
on  Classification.     I  believe  that  the  story  of  "  The  Crea- 
tive Week"  is  the  story  of    the  unfolding  of    a  Divine 
Plan   or   Idea,  ascending    from   the   creation   of  matter- 
atoms,  along  the  pathway  of  soil,  and  plant,  and  animal,  to 
IVfan.     In  the  very  attempt  of  the  Evolutionists  to  estab- 
lish the  hyjwthesis  of  physical  development,  there  is  an 
unconscious,  powerful  tribute  to  the  Mosaic  doctrine  of 
Evolution ;  that  is  to  say,  the  doctrine  of  the  unroUino-  of 


126  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

a  Divine  Plan  or  Idea.  The  advance  may  liave  been,  and 
in  many  cases  probably  was,  genetic  ;  bnt  the  advance,  in 
so  far  as  it  was  an  "  evolution,"  was  ideal,-  And  not  only 
is  Evolution,  in  this  and  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  true 
of  the  Creative  Process ;  it  is  also  true  of  every  living 
thing  to-day,  whether  plant  or  animal.  The  acorn  unfolds 
into  the  oak,  the  babe  into  the  man,  along  the  ideal  axis  of 
a  Divine  thought  or  plan.  The  growth  is  indeed  an  evo- 
lution, but  the  evolution  is  not  a  physical  development  or 
unfolding;  the  growth  is  the  physical  accretion  of  sub- 
stance from  without,  along  the  ideal  axis  of  a  conception 
or  scheme  ;  in  fact,  it  is  this  ideal  evolution,  not  the  l^hysi- 
cal  expansion  or  the  community  of  substances,  which  is  the 
secret  of  the  identity  of  acorn  and  oak.  And  the  thing 
for  the  physical  evolutionist  to  account  for  is  this :  the 
weight  of  the  oak,  the  immense  preponderance  of  which 
was  never  in  the  acorn.  Evolution,  in  the  sense  of  physi- 
cal, objective  unfolding  of  protoplast  into  Man,  is  false. 
Evolution,  in  the  sense  of  ideal,  purposeful  unfolding  of 
protoplast  into  Man,  is  true.  And  Science  has  it  for  her 
lofty  vocation  to  endeavor  to  read  the  Creator's  thoughts 
before  they  are  materialized  into  things.* 

>  Since  delivoriiijf  this  Lecture,  I  have  received  from  ray  esteemed  friend,  the  Kev.  Dr. 
S.  8.  Cutting,  some  verses,  written  by  him,  which  felicitously  express  this  thought,  an 
which,  by  his  permission,  I  incorporate  in  this  volume : 

SCIENCE. 
Ere,  from  the  gloom  of  cycling  night, 
Earth  woko,  and  knew  the  dawning  light; 
Ere  from  old  Chaos  order  sprung. 
And  music  through  the  ether  rung ; — 

In  Thee,  O  one  Eternal  Mind, 
Dwelt  Laws  which  worlds  In  order  bind, 
All  Forms  of  Beauty, — Love's  Delight, — 
All  Koason,— all  Unchanging  liight. 

In  earth  and  heaven,  the  Wonder  wrought 
Is  Evolution  from  Thy  Thought; 


GENESIS  OF  THE  PLANTS.  127 

But,  returning  to  the  point  under  immediate  discus- 
sion, let  us  observe  precisely  what  the  Sacred  Clironicler 
declares.  lie  declares  that  the  tree,  whose  seed  is  in  it- 
self, yields  fruit  after  its  kind.  And  in  thus  declaring, 
he  virtually  asserts  the  Invariability  of  what  we  call  "  Spe- 
cies." Not  that  he  consciously  conceived  this  doctrine. 
But  he  was  an  observer,  and,  being  an  observer,  the  rec- 
ord of  his  observations  is,  of  coui-se,  scientific.  And  this 
matter  of  the  invariability  of  vegetable  species  is  as  true 
to-day  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  ancient  Witness  of  Cre- 
ation's Panorama.  The  tree,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  still 
yields  fruit  after  its  kind.  As  in  the  days  of  the  Naza- 
rene  Teacher,  so  now :  every  tree  is  known  by  its  own 
fruit ;  no  sooner  now  than  then  do  men  go  to  thorns  to 
gather  figs,  or  to  a  bramble-bush  to  gather  grapes  (Luke  vi.  44). 
"  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 

5.  —  Ministry       of     .      ,         ,,       .    i  ,    ,i       r^        ,  •,   ^•    ^  ,   • 

Vcctaiion  And  well  might  the  Creator  delight  m 

the  Birth  of  His  Plants.  Ponder  for  a 
moment  the  immense  and  blessed  part  which  vegetation 
])lays  in  the  economy  of  daily  human  life.  In  the  first 
place,  Plants  are  the  source  of  all  our  food  :  directly,  as  in 
vegetable  diet — e.  g.,  bread,  which  we  call  the  "  Staff  of 
Life ; "  and  indirectly,  as  in  animal  diet — these  animals 
themselves  having  been  fed  on  the  vegetable  world.  An- 
nihilate plants,  and  where  is  food  ?  Annihilate  food,  and 
where  is  man  ?  Again  :  vegetation  is  the  grand  means  of 
atmospheric  purification.  The  countless  living  creatures 
of  earth,  human  and  animal,  are  ceaselessly  inhaling  from 

The  Potence  of  Creative  Skill 
Is  sovereign  flat  of  Thy  Will  ;— 

And  Science,  thence,  Tut  works  to  know; — 
That  upward  stopping,  patient,  slow, 
The  reverent  mind  may  find  in  Thee 
Creation  in  its  Prophecy. 


128  UDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  air  its  life-sustaining  oxygen,  and  as  ceaselessly  exhaling 
into  the  air  the  deatli-dealing  carbonic  oxide.  The  vege- 
table world  mercifully  reverses  the  respiratory  process : 
ceaselessly  inhaling  the  deadly  carbonic  oxide,  as  ceaseless- 
ly exhaling  the  life-sustaining  oxygen.  Annihilate  plants, 
and  man  and  animal  speedily  suffocate.  Thus,  vegetation 
is  alike  life's  grand  compensating  balance,  evermore  main- 
taining the  needed  atmosj)heric  equilibrium,  and  also  life's 
grand  storehouse,  evermore  supplying  animal  existence 
with  its  indispensables  of  air  and  food.  What  the  ancient 
Gibeonite  was  to  the  ancient  Israelite,  that  the  Plant  is 
to  Man :  it  is  his  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of  water. 
It  is  more  than  the  ancient  Gibeonite  :  it  keeps  him  from 
ceasing  to  be  a  man,  and  sinking  into  a  clod.  And  just 
here,  as  I  pass  on,  let  me  speak  a  word  in  behalf  of  the 
primeval  forests.  They  are  an  essential  part  of  the  vital 
economy  of  the  nation,  serving,  not  only  as  its  great  lungs, 
but  also  as  one  of  the  essential  conditions  of  the  permanent 
productiveness  of  the  soil.  "Witness  the  fertility  of  wooded 
Lombardy.  Witness  the  sterility  of  woodless  Palestine. 
Foster,  then,  the  blessed  woods  of  our  loved  America ! 
Girdle  not,  O  hunter,  that  hemlock  for  thy  camp  !  Fire 
not,  O  thoughtless  vacationist,  that  curling  birch  ! 

"  O,  Woodman,  spare  tliat  tree !  " 

Once  more :  The  vegetable  world  is  a  never-ending 
source  of  fcsthetic  delight.  The  two  great  occasions  and 
conditions  of  physical  beauty  are  figure  and  color.  The 
Plants,  in  their  infinitely  varied  range  from  diatom  to 
cedar,  illustrate  every  conceivable  line  of  figure,  every 
conceivable  hue  of  color.  Their  ravishing  song  ranges 
through  the  whole  scale  of  possible  figures,  through  the 
whole  gamut  of  possible  hues.     They  are  not  only  minis- 


GENESIS   OF  THE   PLANTS.  129 

trants  to  a  transient  pleasure,  tliey  are  also  witnesses  to  an 
eternal  Beauty. 

"  Were  I,  O  God,  in  cliurchless  lands  remaining, 
Far  from  all  voice  of  teachers  or  divines, 
My  soul  would  find,  in  flowers  of  Thy  ordaining, 

Priests,  sermons,  shrines!  " — (Horace  Smith.) 

Kemembering,  then,  this  threefold  ministry  of  vegetation, 
tirelessly  serving  humanity  as  the  gracious  ministrant  of 
daily  food  and  vital  equilibrium  and  exhaustless  beauty, 
we,  too,  may  share  in  the  Creator's  delight,  and  with  Ilini 
pronounce  the  advent  of  the  Plants  very  good, 

"  And  there  was  evening  and  there 
^■"^^J^'':'!  ^'"^  ^vas  morning,  a  Third  Day."     Momen- 

a  Day  of  Providence.  i     <•   n       i»    -r>         -i 

tons  and  lull  ol  1  rovidence  m  very 
deed  have  been  the  events  of  the  Third  Day.  First,  tliere 
has  been  the  Creator's  distribution  of  Land  and  Water  : 
the  seas,  islands,  continents,  mountains,  taking  their  ap- 
pointed places.  And,  secondly,  the  earth  has  received  from 
her  Maker  and  Lord  her  iridescent  mantle  of  flora.  But 
these  events  were  not  their  own  end.  Sublime  as  was  the 
retreat  of  the  Seas  and  the  emergence  of  the  Lands  ;  ex- 
quisite as  were  the  springing  up  of  the  ferns,  the  towering 
of  the  oaks,  the  flowering  of  the  roses,  the  fruiting  of  the 
vines — these  splendid  events  were  something  more  tlian 
the  brilliant  exhibition  of  the  Creator's  power  and  skill. 
They  were  prophetic  of  something  mimensely  greater  than 
themselves,  even  the  Coming  Man.  For,  on  that  far-off 
Third  Day,  earth  became  a  mighty  storehouse  for  supply- 
ing the  wants  of  the  myriads  on  myriads  of  coming  hu- 
manity. On  that  day  of  the  Emerging  Lands  it  became 
possible  for  man  to  obtain  from  the  mountains  and  river- 
beds and  subterranean  depths  those  precious  stones  on 
which  he  loves  to  feast  his  eyes ;  better  still,  those  miner- 


130  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

als  and  metals  wliicli  are  more  precious  than  any  gem — 
clay  and  gravel  and  copper  and  iron  and  silver  and  gold 
and  soil.  On  that  day  of  the  Birth  of  Vegetation  were 
deposited  and  compressed  those  colossal  coal-beds  which  to 
this  day  furnish  to  the  civilized  world  the  chief  generat- 
ing power  of  its  mechanical  activities.  You  love  to  talk 
of  Divine  Providence.  I  know  no  sublimer  instance  of 
Divine  Providence  than  the  work  of  that  far-off  Third 
Day.  In  those  emerging  lands  and  in  that  emeralding 
soil  I  read  the  legend  of  One  Who '  not  only  created,  but 
Who  also  foresaw,  even  Ilim  Who  was  the  Creator — 
Provider.  Oh,  how  those  miss  the  meaning  of  ^Nature 
who  think  of  those  ancient  deposits  of  coal  as  but  the  is- 
sue of  accident,  or,  at  most,  of  impersonal,  blind,  goalless 
law !  Yes,  it  is  one  thing  to  describe  Nature :  that  the 
atheist  may  do,  and  this  with  the  precision  of  a  microme- 
ter ;  but  even  then  he  speaks  but  a  little  fragment  of  the 
truth.  It  is  another  and  vastly  larger  thing  to  intei*pret 
Nature  :  that  no  one  can  do  who  does  not  believe  in  a  pur- 
poseful God — that  is  to  say,  a  Providential  Creator. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Plants. 

IL— Mor.nl  Moan-  And  now  let  us  attend  to  the  Moral 

ing  of  tlic  Story.       Meaning  of  the  Story. 

01)serve  then,  first :  Tlie  Plant  is  a 
1.— The    riant    a    ,         ^.j.   ,  ,       ' 

Propliet  of  Man.  hoautiful    emblem,    or,    rather,    a   lu-o- 

]ihetic  type,  of  Man  himself.  The 
analogies  between  plants  and  aninuils — not,  indeed,  in  re- 
sjiect  to  figure,  but  in  respect  to  life — are  manifold  and 
striking.  To  start  with  the  very  first  step,  the  beginning 
of  life :  so  similar  are  the  elementary,  initial  cells  of  tlie 
plant  and  the  animal  that,  under  the  most  detective  micro- 
scope hitherto  at  command,  it  is  impossi])le  to  say  M-hich  is 
the  plant  and  which  the  animal.     And  though,  when  the 


GENESIS   OF   THE   PLANTS.  131 

cells  begin  to  quicken  and  differentiate,  the  divergence 
speedily  becomes  very  marked,  yet  the  phenomena  of 
plant-life  do  in  many  respects  wonderfully  resemble  the 
])henomena  of  animal-life.  How  naturally  we  apply  to 
them  both  such  physiological  exj)ressions  as  embryo,  quick- 
ening, growing,  feeding,  absorbing,  assimilating,  circulat- 
ing, secreting,  breathing,  sleeping,  propagating,  dying,  re- 
viving !  Look  at  this  little  seed.  See  how  mysteriously  its 
embryo  quickens  and  unfolds  ;  how  vigorously  it  bursts  its 
envelope  ;  how  instinctively  it  sends  its  root  downward  and 
its  stem  uj)ward ;  how  greedily  it  takes  in  its  appropriate 
food  ;  how  skillfully,  like  a  very  chemist,  it  elaborates  its 
nourishment ;  how  deftly  it  lays  away  the  right  substance 
in  the  right  si)ot ;  how  sagaciously  it  arranges  and  spreads 
its  leaves  for  light  and  air  and  wet ;  how  lovingly  it  clings 
as  it  aspiringly  climbs ;  how  joyously  it  blossoms  ;  how 
far-sightedly  its  propagative  apparatus  makes  provision  for 
the  future  ;  how  nervously,  as  in  the  sensitive  plant,  it 
shrinks  from  injury  ;  how  humanly  it  dies  ;  how  humanly 
it  puts  forth  its  spring  leaves.  A'^erily,  it  seems  to  be  a  liv- 
ing person,  self-conscious  and  self-regulating.  And  yet  it 
is  not.  It  is  in  this  matter  oidy  a  parable.  It  is  a  picture 
of  the  human  soul.  That,  too,  quickens,  unfolds,  feeds, 
assimilates,  breathes,  sleeps,  awakes,  blossoms,  fniits,  fades, 
dies,  revives.  Yes,  profound  is  the  lesson  taught  us  Ijy 
the  ])henomena  of  vegetation.  The  tree  without  us  is  an 
emblem  of  the  Tree  within. 

"  Flower  in  the  crannioil  wall, 
I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies, 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  }iand : 
Little  flower,  but  if  I  could  understand 
"What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  Man  is." — (Tennyson.) 


133  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  IIolj  Scripture,  written  by  tlie  same 
Divine  finger  that  has  written  the  Scripture  of  Nature,  is 
ricli  in  Georgics,  or  Plant-parables/  All  Holy  Scripture 
is  verdured  with  tlie  emerald  tint  of  the  Third  Day. 

Secondly  :  The  Birth  of  Powers.    In 
2.— The  Birth   of  Studying  this  lesson  let  us  keep  within 
I'o^ers.  the  landmarks  indicated  in  our  passage 

itself. 

And,  first,  the  Parable  of  Germina- 
(«.)-The  rarable  ^-^^^  .  a  ^g^  the  earth  put  forth  shoots." 

of  Germination.  i     c   i 

io  the  tlioughtiul  man  there  is  some- 
thing inexpressibly  marvelous  in  the  quickening  of  a  seed. 
Look  at  this  tiny  acorn.  Little  sign  does  it  give  of  the 
vital  energy  with  which  it  is  instinct.  The  costly,  flashing 
diamond  is  more  promising.  But  plant  that  diamond : 
plant  it  most  carefully  in  soil  the  richest,  under  skies  and 
conditions  the  most  genial.  Let  your  descendants  ten 
thousand  years  hence — if,  indeed,  the  world  shall  be  stand- 
ing— visit  the  spot.  No  dazzling  tree  is  there,  flashing 
with  unnumbered,  jeweled  leaves.  Let  him  carefully  re- 
move the  soil :  and  there,  in  the  silence  and  dampness  and 
darkness,  he  will  find  just  wliat  you  had  ])lanted,  nothing 
more — an  unchanged,  cold,  dead  diamond.  An  autunm 
wind  sweeps  through  the  forest,  shaking  every  twig  and 
bough.  A  little,  brown,  seemingly  dead  acoiTi  falls  to  the 
ground.  The  foot  of  the  browsing  deer  presses  it  beneath 
the  soil.  There  it  lies  in  its  grave,  an  unnoticed  thing, 
silent  and  motionless  as  the  pebbles  sepulchred  around  it. 
But  the  germ  of  a  giant  life  is  in  it :  for  the  vernal  days 
come  again,  and  the  finger  of  the  Unsleeping  One  touches 

'  Psalm  oxxvl.  5,  6.  Is.  xi.  1 :  xxxv.  1.  Hosoft  xiv.  6-7.  Matt.  vi.  28-30  ;  vii.  Ifi-  20 ; 
Jx.  ■■il,  88 ;  xiii.  18-23,  24-30,  31-88 ;  xxiv.  32-34.  Mark  iv.  20-29.  Luk»  xiii.  6-0.  John  iv. 
85-3«-;  xii.  24;  xv.  1-S.  Horn.  .\i.  10-24.  1  Cor.  xv.  35-44.  Gal.  vi.  7-9.  Ucb.  vi.  7,  8. 
1  Peter  i.  23.    Rev.  xxii.  2. 


GENESIS   OF   THE   PLANTS.  133 

its  secret  spring,  and,  lo !  the  little  brown  nut  germinates, 
and  swells,  and  bnrsts  its  husk,  and  sends  down  its  tiny 
radicle,  and  sends  up  its  tiny  shoot,  and  grows  strong,  and 
sets  aside  the  bowlder  which  obstructs  the  pathway  of  its 
ascending  doom,  and  a  hundred  years  from  now  it  rears  its 
kingly  head  amid  the  stoniis,  and  from  its  stalwart  and 
surging  arms  and  quivering  finger-tips  it  drops  down  a 
thousand  infant  acorns  to  become  the  sires  of  countless 
glorious  oaks  in  the  far-off  ages,  it  may  be,  yet  to  come. 
Friends,  it  is  a  parable  of  the  Human  Soul. 

"  For  nature,  crescent,  does  not  grow  alone 
In  thews,  and  bulk ;  but,  as  this  temple  waxes. 
The  inward  service  of  the  mind  and  soul 
Grows  wide  withal." — ("  Hahi.et,"  Act  I.,  Scene  3.) 

Tiny,  doubtless,  the  soul  is  that  lies  infolded  in  the  little 
framework  of  yonder  sleeping  infant :  but  the  force  of  a 
giant  life  lies  coiled  up  in  it.  In  that  little  soul  lie  in- 
folded potentially  all  ranges  of  moral  greatness,  all  splen- 
dors of  spiritual  beauty,  all  majesties  of  saintly  experience, 
all  heights  of  beatific  glory,  all  exuberance  of  celestial  har- 
vest— and  all  this  forever  augmenting,  with  the  cumulative 
momentum  of  immortality,  throughout  the  eternal  cycles. 
Yea,  when  the  favorable  conditions  come,  when  the  Spirit 
of  God  breathes  into  this  little  chaotic  soul  His  own  vital- 
izing energy,  this  Seed  of  the  Kingdom,  though  now  it 
may  be  among  the  littlest  of  seeds,  grows  into  the  greatest 
of  trees,  towering  into  the  heaven  of  heavens,  so  that 
the  very  angels  of  God,  who  excel  in  strengtli,  love  to 
alight  among  its  branches  and  lodge  in  the  shadow  thereof 

(Matt.  xiii.  31,  32). 

Secondly  :  The  Parable  of  Evoln- 

of  Ev^ution.   '''''^  *"  *^^'^  '■  "  ^^*  *^^^  ^^^^'^  y^^^*^  ^"^eed  after  its 
kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself."     It  is  the 


134  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

evolution  of  Growth,  the  seed  unfolding,  along  the  ideal 
axis  of  a  plan,  into  the  harvest,  the  harvest  being  of  the 
same  kind  as  the  seed.  The  law  of  that  kind  of  Evolution 
holds  absolutely  wherever  there  is  life.  It  holds  absolute- 
ly in  the  vegetable  world.  Whatever  a  man  sows,  that 
shall  he  also  reap  (Gal.  vi.  7).  If  he  sows  wheat,  he  will 
reap  from  that  wheat,  not  tares,  but  wheat.  If  he  sows 
tares,  he  will  reap  from  those  tares,  not  wheat,  but  tares. 
The  law  holds  with  equal  absoluteness  in  the  spiritual 
world.  If  a  man  sows  righteousness,  he  will  reap  from 
that  righteousness,  not  sinfulness,  but  righteousness  ;  if  he 
sows  sinfulness,  he  will  reap  from  that  sinfulness,  not  right- 
eousness, but  sinfulness.  You  cannot  repeal  the  law  of 
Evolution ;  like  begets  like,  and  can  beget  no  otherwise. 
You  cannot  annul  the  law  of  Propagation ;  that  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  cannot  be  anything  but  flesh  ; 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  sj^irit,  and  cannot  be 
anything  but  spirit  (John  iii.  6).  You  cannot  cancel  the 
law  of  the  Harvest ;  what  a  man  sows  that  shall  he  also 
reap,  always  that.  Alas,  if  the  voices  of  Scripture,  and 
Observation,  and  Experience,  and  Conscience,  are  to  be 
trusted,  all  of  us  are  ])orn  of  the  flesh,  and  all  of  us,  tlieiv- 
fore,  are  sowing  to  the  flesh ;  and  tliereforo,  again,  all  of 
us  will  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption.  Marvel  not  then  that 
the  Lord  of  nature  and  of  man  has  said  to  us  all,  "  Ye 
must  be  born  again "  (John  iii.  7).  You  do  not  marvel 
at  the  law  of  the  harvest  in  the  vegetable  world.  You 
plant  corn  in  the  certain  expectation  that,  if  you  rca})  any- 
thing from  that  seed,  it  will  be  corn.  And  the  God  of 
Nature  and  the  God  of  Morals  is  one  and  the  same  God. 
Marvel  not  then  at  the  Lord's  application  of  the  Law  of 
Evolution  to  the  moral  world.  Ay,  this  statute,  "  Ye 
must  be  born  again,"  is  no  new,  special,  exceijtional  edict ; 


GENESIS  OF   THE   PLANTS.  135 

it  is  written  in  tlie  constitntion  of  things.  The  Law  of  the 
Harvest  settles  the  point.  What  hope  is  there  then  for 
us  ?  How  can  we  be  born  again  ?  Poor,  decaying,  death- 
stnick  trees  are  we ;  liow  then  can  we  ever  put  forth  tlie 
shoots  of  a  living  righteousness?  Oh,  the  unspeakable 
condescension !  He  Who  is  the  true  Tree  of  Life  benignly 
offers  to  scion  Himself  into  our  poor,  fallen,  dying  charac- 
ters, and  to  rejuvenate  them  with  the  vigor  of  His  own 
innnortal  youth-hood.  Or,  to  reverse  the  figure,  and  at 
the  same  time  give  a  new  turn  to  the  Apostle's  argument, 
we,  wild  olives  by  Nature,  are  grafted  into  the  true  and 
heavenly  Olive  (Rom.  xi.  16-24),  and  so  share  in  His  Divine 
Virtues  and  beatific  Lnmortality.  Thus  scioned  and  thus 
alndino;  in  Him — the  True  Vine — we  shall  indeed  brin«; 
forth  much  fruit  (John  xv.  l-io). 

And  this  leads  us  to  our  last  point : 
rt^~rr '  r^''''^''  The  Parable  of  Fructification  :  "  Let  the 

01  1?  ructincation. 

earth  put  forth  shoots ;  and  let  the  tree 
yield  fruit."  Fruitage  :  this  is  the  meaning  of  Vegetation. 
It  is  the  very  nature  of  growth,  the  very  law  of  the  seed, 
to  unfold  and  issue  in  harvest.  It  is  with  reference  to 
this  issue  that  the  whole  plant  is  organized ;  it  is  toward 
this  issue  that  the  whole  plant-life  converges.  Beware 
then  of  Icttiiiii;  the  seed  of  the  kino-dom  fall  on  the 
beaten  wayside  of  a  stony  heart,  where  it  cannot  even 
germinate.  Ik'ware  of  letting  it  fall  on  the  thin,  pebl)ly 
soil  of  a  shallow,  frivolous  heart,  where,  though  it  quickly 
germinates,  it  as  quickly  perishes.  Beware  of  letting  it 
fall  on  the  thorny  soil  of  a  preoccupied  heart,  where,  though 
it  germinates,  and  lives,  and  yields  fruit,  it  brings  forth 
no  fruit  to  perfection.  Take  heed  that  the  seed  of  the 
kingdom  fall  on  the  deep,  rich  soil  of  a  good  and  hoTiest 
heart,  where,  quickened  by  God's  breath,  it  shall  yield  a 


136  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Imndredfold  (Matt.  xiii.).  See  to  it  then  tliat  your  faitli  is 
rooted  in  the  Grace  of  God ;  and  then  give  all  diligence, 
and  add  to  your  faith  the  other  graces,  sending  up  from 
the  root  of  faith  the  trunk  of  wisdom  and  the  sap  of  knowl- 
edge, putting  forth  the  boughs  of  temperance,  and  the 
twigs  of  patience,  and  the  leaves  of  godliness,  and  the 
blossoms  of  brotherly  kindness,  and  the  fruit  of  love 
(2  Peter  i.  5-1).  So  shall  you  indeed  pom*  forth  at  Immanuel's 
feet  the  cornucopia  of  a  Christian  character,  even  those 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffer- 
ing, kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  temperance 
(Gal.  V.  22,  23),  Abundantly  bringing  forth  these  various 
fniits  (Kev.  xxii.  2)  every  month  in  the  year,  ye  shall  indeed 
glorify  your  Father,  and  prove  that  you  are  in  very  truth 
the  disciples  of  His  Son  (John  xv.  8). 

This  then  is  the  lesson  of  the  hour:  The  Birth  of 
Powers  to  issue  in  Heavenly  Fruitage.  Be  not  content 
then  with  the  mere  sense  of  individuality  and  of  duty, 
mechanically  taking  your  allotted  place  with  the  grouping 
lands  and  seas  (Gen.  i.  9,  lo) ;  actually  put  forth  in  living  exer- 
cise your  latent  powers.  Yes,  happy  the  day  when  the 
Lord  of  seeds  and  of  souls  says  to  thee :  "  Let  the  earth 
put  forth  shoots,  and  the  f niit-tree  yield  its  fruits  !  "  Thrice 
hapjjy  the  day  when  thou  obeyest,  thy  life  becoming  arbo- 
rescent, the  leaves  of  thy  tree  spirally  arranged  so  as  to 
take  in  the  most  thou  canst  of  God's  air  and  sunshine, 
yielding  the  fruits  of  a  Christian  character.  May  it  be  for 
each  one  of  us  to  flourish  like  the  palm-tree  and  grow  like 
the  cedar,  being  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  flour- 
ishing in  the  courts  of  our  God,  even  in  old  age  still  bear- 
ing fruit  (Psalm  xcii.  12-11).  Tlicu,  wlicu  death  transjDlants  us 
to  the  more  genial  clime  of  the  Heavenly  Eden,  it  will 
be  seen  that  our  branches  are  evermore  interlaciuir  with 


GENESIS   OF  THE   PLANTS.  137 

the  bouglis  of  the  Tree  of  Life.  Meantime,  as  we  wait 
amid  the  wintry  blasts  of  earth  for  the  great  translation, 
let  us  catch  inspiration  from  the  Vision  of  the  Flowers : 

"  In  all  places,  then,  and  in  all  seasons, 

Flowers  expand  their  light  and  soul-like  wings; 
Teaching  us,  by  most  persuasive  reasons, 
How  akin  they  are  to  human  things. 

"  And  with  childlike,  credulous  affection, 
We  behold  their  tender  buds  expand ; 
Emblems  of  our  own  great  resurrection, 
Emblems  of  the  bright  and  better  land." 

— (Longfellow.) 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and 
ever  shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUEE  YIIL 

GENESIS    OF    THE    LUMINARIES. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  tliere  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  the 
heaven,  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be  for  signs, 
and  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years :  and  let  them  be  for  liglits 
in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven,  to  give  light  upon  the  earth  :  and  it 
was  so.  And  God  made  two  great  lights ;  the  greater  light  to  rule 
the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night:  He  made  the  stars 
also.  And  God  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven,  to  give 
light  upon  the  earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night, 
and  to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness:  and  God  saw  that  it  was 
good.  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fourth  day." — 
Genesis  i.  14-19. 

I.— Explanation         First  of  all,  let  us  attend  to  tlic  Ex- 
of  the  Passage.        planation  of  the  Passage. 

And  yet,  before  proceeding;  with  the 

1.— Twin  Periods  of  -,        J      \   ^  \-       ^  a..      .. 

the  Creative  Week,     c^planation,  let  me  direct  your  attention 

to  what  may  be  called  the  twin  Triads 
of  the  Creative  AYeek.  This  venerable  Creation  Archive 
evidently  divides  into  two  great  eras,  each  era  consisting 
of  three  days;  each  day  of  the  first  era  having  a  corre- 
sponding day  in  the  second  era.  Thus,  to  the  chemical 
Light  of  the  First  Day  correspond  the  sidereal  Lights  of 
the  Fourth  Day.  To  the  terrestrial  Individualization  of 
the  Second  Day  corresponds  the  vital  Individualization  of 
the  Fifth  Day.     To  the  Genesis  of  the  Lands  and  of  the 


GENESIS   OF   THE   LUMINARIES.  139 

Plants  on  the  Tliii'd  Day  corresponds  the  Genesis  of  the 
Mammals  and  of  Man  on  the  Sixth  Day.  Thus,  the  first 
era  of  the  Triad  was  an  era  of  Prophecy ;  the  second  era 
of  the  Triad,  an  era  of  Fulfillment.  It  is  a  majestic  in- 
stance of  that  wonderful,  Divinely-arranged  Parallelism 
which  we  see  on  every  side  of  us — e.  g..  Day  and  Night, 
Seed-time  and  Harvest,  Man  and  Woman,  Nature  and 
Scrij)ture,  Matter  and  Spirit — and  which  finds  verbal, 
stately  utterance  in  the  rhythmic  sentiments  so  characteris- 
tic of  Hebrew  Poetry,     And  now  to  our  Passage. 

"  And   God  said  :    '  Let   there  be 

2.— The     Twofold   t    i  x     •      xi  i?    xi       i 

j,.^^  .  lights  m  the  expanse  of   the  heavens, 

to  give  light  on  the  earth.'  And  it 
was  so ;  and  God  made  the  two  great  lights  and  the  stars, 
and  set  them  in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens,  to  give  light 
on  the  earth."  But  you  intermpt  me  wdth  some  objec- 
tions. First  you  ask :  "  Was  not  light  already  existing  ? 
Have  we  not  been  expressly  told  in  previous  verses  that 
light  already  existed  as  the  issue  of  the  First  Day  ?  Is 
not  then  Moses  inconsistent  with  himself  in  asserting  that 
light  existed  on  the  First  Day,  and  subsequently  asserting 
that  the  heavenly  bodies  were  not  created  till  the  Fourth  ? " 
The  answer  is  easy.  Light  may  exist  independently  of 
the  sun.  There  is,  e.  g.,  the  light  of  phosphorescence,  the 
light  of  electricity,  the  light  of  incandescence,  the  light  of 
chemism,  atom  clashing  with  atom,  and  discharging  light 
at  every  collision.  Recall  the  famous  Nebular  Hypothesis 
to  which  I  have  so  often  adverted.  According  to  this 
magnificent  conjecture,  there  has  been  a  time,  untold  ages 
ago,  when  our  globe  was  surrounded  by  a  fiery,  luminous 
vapor,  Hke  the  dazzling  photosphere  of  our  present  sun. 
Is  there  anything  in  the  Mosaic  Archive  of  Creation  to 
conflict   with    this    splendid   Hypothesis  ?      Why   blame 


140  STUDIES  IX   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Moses  for  asserting  that  light  existed  before  the  sun  was 
visible,  and  yet  praise  Kant  and  Herschel  and  Laplace  and 
Humboldt  for  asserting  the  same  thing  ?  But  I  hear  an- 
other objection,  "  The  earth,"  you  remind  me,  "  is  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  solar  system ;  as  such,  it  necessitates 
from  the  beginning  the  contemporaneous  existence  of  the 
sun,  to  hold  the  solar  system  in  balance,  and  to  keep  earth 
itself  in  its  orbit ;  but  if  the  sun  was  not  created  till  the 
Fourth  Day,  what  becomes  of  the  astronomic  teaching 
that  earth  has  been  from  the  beginning  an  integrant  part 
of  the  solar  system?"  Again  the  answer  is  easy.  Ob- 
serve, first,  that  our  passage  does  not  assert  that  God 
created — that  is  to  say,  caused  to  come  into  existence  for 
the  first  time — sun,  moon,  and  stars,  on  the  Fourth  Day. 
All  that  our  passage  asserts  in  this  matter  is  this  :  God  on 
the  Fourth  Day  for  the  first  time  caused  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  to  become  visible.  Eemember  that  light  is  not  an 
essential,  constituent  part  of  the  sun.  For  aught  we  know, 
the  sun  itself  may  be  a  dark  body,  as  indeed  the  "  solar 
spots  "  have  led  some  astronomers  to  think.  Moreover : 
surveying  the  sun  as  the  centre  of  gravitation  for  the 
planetary  system,  the  sun  can  fulfill  its  gravitating  oflice 
equally  well  whether  luminous  or  not.  Let  me  then  again 
ask  you  to  observe  carefully  just  what  the  Sacred  Chroni- 
cler says.  He  does  not  say  :  "  God  created  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  on  the  Fourth  Day."  The  creation  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  he  has  already  implied  in  the  very  first 
statement  of  his  Chronicle :  "  In  the  beginning  God  cre- 
ated the  heavens  and  the  earth "  (Gen.  i.  i).  What  the 
Chronicler  asserts  is  this :  "  God  said :  '  Let  there  be  lights, 
luminaries,  light-bearers,  light-radiators,  in  the  expanse  of 
the  heavens :'  and  God  made  the  two  great  lights  and  the 
stars;"  that  is  to  say:  God  constituted  them,  appointed 


GENESIS  OF  THE   LUMINARIES.  141 

tliem,  to  become  luminaries,  or  liglit-bearers.  The  Dic- 
tum :  "  Let  lights  be  !  "  is  evidently  equivalent  to  the 
Dictum :  "  Let  lights  appear ! "  If  you  ask  me  how  this 
great  change  was  brought  about,  I  cannot  answer.  It  may 
be  that  dense  vapors  had  hitherto  prevailed  ;  vapors  exhal- 
ing from  Chaos,  from  the  newly  shaped  globe,  from  the 
steaming  lands  just  arisen  from  their  watery  sepulchre, 
from  the  rank  vegetation  of  the  Carboniferous  Era ;  vapors 
so  dense  as  to  hide  the  heavenly  bodies  :  and  that  the  work 
of  the  Fourth  Day  consisted  in  giving  transparency  to  the 
turbid  atmosphere,  and  so  letting  through  it  the  light  of 
sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Or  it  may  be,  on  the  Fourth  Day, 
God  endowed  the  heavenly  bodies  with  power  to  excite 
those  undulations  of  the  assumed  universal  ether  which, 
according  to  the  modern  teaching,  are  occasions  of  light ; 
thus  concentrating  or  massing  the  diffused  light  of  the 
First  Day  into  apparently  distinct,  definite  sources  of  light, 
or  light  centres,  on  the  Fourth.  As  on  the  First  Day  lie 
may  have  given  light  immediately  by  impressing  His  edict 
directly  on  the  universal  ether,  so  on  the  Fourth  Day 
He  may  have  given  light  mediately  by  establishing  here 
and  there  in  the  universal  ether  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  as 
distinct  and  permanent  centres  or  occasions  of  luminous 
vibration.  However  this  may  be,  the  point  in  hand  is 
this :  the  sublimest  of  modern  scientific  hypotheses,  in  de- 
claring that  light  existed  before  the  appearance  of  the  sun, 
simply  echoes  the  voice  of  Moses.  And  now  I  have  a 
question  to  ask  :  How  came  that  ancient  Clu'onicler,  writing 
in  that  far-off  unscientific  age,  to  venture  on  so  improbable 
a  statement  as  that  of  placing  the  advent  of  the  sun  long 
after  the  advent  of  light  "i  Is  there  any  better  answer 
than  this — he  was  Divinely  inspired  ?  Nevertheless  let  me 
reiterate  my  oft-repeated  caution.      Do  not  try  to  extort 


142  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

from  tlie  text  what  tlie  writer  did  not  put  in  it.  Remem- 
ber that  inspiration  is  not  necessarily  omniscience.  Do  not 
demand  then  that  because  Moses  claims  to  be  inspired,  he 
must  therefore  know  all  about  Gravitation,  and  Precession 
of  Equinoxes,  and  Parallax.  It  is  most  unfair  then  to 
read  his  story  as  you  would  read  Newton's  "  Principia,"  or 
Tyndall's  "  Lectures  on  Light."  The  reciter  of  this  Crea- 
tion Archive  does  not  claim  to  be  a  scientist.  All  he  claims 
is  that  he  has  been  permitted  to  gaze  on  the  Creative  Pro- 
cess as  though  it  had  been  swiftly  unrolled  before  him  in 
panoramic  vision.  Accordingly,  in  describing  what  he  has 
witnessed,  he  speaks  visually,  not  philosophically  ;  scenically 
not  scientifically.  Let  us  then  be  just  to  him,  taking  him 
at  his  thought  as  well  as  his  word. 

Accordingly,  let  us  again  ascend  his 
3.-Panorama    of  ^^^^^^^  ^f  Panoramic  Vision,  and  gaze 

the  Eracrgmg  Lunii-        .  ,    ,  .  i  , , .  .  F  , 

jjjjj.jgg  With  linn  on  the  unrolling  section  oi  the 

Fourth  Day.  There  is  still  light  on  the 
newly  verdured  mountain  and  mead.  But  it  is  a  strange, 
weird  light ;  perhaps  like  that  of  the  zodiacal  gleam,  or 
the  dying  photosphere,  or  perhaps  like  the  iris-hued,  lam- 
bent shimmer  of  the  l^orthern  Aurora.  Suddenly  the 
goldening  gateways  of  the  East  open,  and,  lo,  a  dazzling 
Orb,  henceforth  the  Lord  of  Day,  strides  forth  from  his 
cloud  pavilion  as  a  bridegroom  from  his  chamber,  and  re- 
joices to  run  his  course  as  a  giant  his  race ;  upward  and 
upward  ho  royally  mounts ;  downward  and  downward  he 
royally  bows ;  as  he  nears  the  goal  of  his  resplendent  march, 
lo,  the  blushing  portals  of  the  "West  o]ien  to  receive  him  : 
and  lo,  again,  his  gentle  consort,  "  Pale  Empress  of  the 
Kight,"  sweeps  forth  in  silver  sheen,  while  around  her 
planet  and  comet,  Areturus  and  Mazzaroth,  Orion  and 
Pleiades,  hold  glittering  court.     No  wonder  the  morning 


GENESIS   OF  THE   LUMINARIES.  143 

stars  sing  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shout  for  joy 

(Job  xxxviii.  Y). 

And  now  let  us  ponder  the  purpose 
4.-rurposcofthe  ^£  ^^^  Luminaries.      "And  God  said: 

'  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  expanse  of 
the  heavens,  for  dividing  between  the  day  and  the  night ; 
and  let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days, 
and  for  years ;  and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  expanse 
of  the  heavens,  for  giving  light  on  the  earth.'  And  it  was 
so.  And  God  made  the  two  great  lights ;  the  greater 
light  for  dominion  over  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  for 
dominion  over  the  night;  and  the  stars.  And  God  set 
them  in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens,  to  give  light  on  the 
earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to 
divide  between  the  light  and  the  darkness."  The  pui-pose 
then  was  threefold. 

First :  "  To  divide  between  the  Day 
(«.)-To  divide  be-  j^j^^i   ^i^g  Night;"    that  is  to  say:    to 

thc^Nif'ht  bring  about  alternations  of  light  and 

darkness.  But  why  was  this  necessary  ? 
Remember  then  that  man  as  at  present  constituted  must 
have  recurrent  periods  of  sleep.  Every  exercise  of  his 
powers,  whether  bodily,  mental,  or  moral,  involves  a  loss 
of  vital  force.  That  loss  must  be  compensated  by  periodic 
seasons  of  repose ;  otherwise  he  will  become  insane  and  die. 
In  sleep  there  is  a  more  or  less  complete  suspension  of  vol- 
untary motion  and  consciousness.  Sleep  is  thus  one  of  the 
grand  reservoirs  for  the  supply  of  the  constant  waste  going 
on  in  our  working  hours.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  health- 
ful man  does  and  must  spend  al)out  one-third  of  his  life  in 
sleep.  Ah,  I  know  of  no  more  touching  evidence  of 
Christ's  real  humanity,  being  in  very  tiiith  bone  of  my 
bone  and  tlesh  of  my  flesh,  than  when  I  read  that,  wearied 


144  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

with  the  toils  of  an  eventful  and  harassing  day,  He  went 
on  board  one  of  the  little  crafts  of  Gennesaret,  and  in- 
stantly fell  asleep,  and,  thougli  a  great  tempest  suddenly 
rose  and  raged.  He  still  slept  on  (Mark  iv.  36-38).  And  I 
know  of  no  more  glowing  evidence  of  the  transcendent 
superiority  of  the  coming  heavenly  estate  than  when  I 
read :  "  There  shall  be  no  night  there  "  (Rev,  xxii.  5).  Mean- 
time we  are  of  the  earth,  earthy,  and  must  struggle  on,  as 
best  we  may,  under  the  laws  of  this  inferior  stage  of  exist- 
ence. Labor,  anxiety,  sorrow,  inexorably  entail  fatigue. 
And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  resting  is  at'  times  as  tnily 
a  duty  as  working :  sleeping,  as  waking.  When,  then, 
jaded  with  the  toils  and  cares  and  griefs  of  the  day,  the 
stilly  evening  comes,  how  delicious  is  the  coming  on  of 
sleep — that  blessed 

"  Sleep,  that  knits  up  the  ravell'd  sleave  of  care, 
The  death  of  each  day's  life,  sore  labour's  bath, 
Balm  of  hurt  minds,  great  Nature's  second  course, 
Chief  nourisher  in  life's  feast." 

— ("  MxiCBETn,"  Act  II.,  Scene  2.) 

And  that  we  may  sleep  and  wake  at  healthful  intervals, 
how  mercifully  the  Framer  of  our  bodies  and  Father  of 
our  spirits  has  divided  the  day  from  the  niglit ;  at  every 
sunset  dropping  the  curtains  of  His  evening,  and  so  inviting 
to  repose  ;  at  every  sunrise  lifting  the  curtains  of  His  morn- 
ing, and  so  inviting  to  labor !  Ah,  it  is  one  of  the  perhaps 
inevitable  regresses  of  civilization  that  it  tends  to  revei-se 
our  Divine  Father's  method,  bidding  us  close  our  shutters, 
that  we  may  sleep  during  His  sunsliine,  and  liglit  our  little 
candles  and  gas-jets,  that  we  may  work  during  His  night. 
Is  it  not  enough  that  tlie  carnivorous  animals — the  tiger 
and  hyena  among  beasts,  and  the  burglar  and  assassin  among 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LUMINARIES.  145 

men — should  sleep  by  day  and  prowl  by  niglit  ?  May  we 
not  hope  that  in  the  still  richer  civilization  which  awaits 
ns,  society  will  revert  to  the  primeval  simplicity,  and  witli 
the  patriarchal  witness  of  Creation's  Panorama  gratefully 
accept  the  sunrise  as  God's  summons  to  work,  and  the  smi- 
set  as  God's  summons  to  rest  ? 

But   our  passage  assigns   a   second 

(M-ToWfcSigo,  ,.^^„„   ^j       P^  deator  set  the  sun, 

Seasons,  Days,  Years.  •'  . 

moon,  and  stars  m  tlie  expanse  oi  tlie 

heavens  ;  it  is  that  they  may  be  "  for  signs  and  for  seasons, 
and  for  days,  and  years ; "  that  is  to  say,  that  they  may 
serve  us  as  notations  of  time.  For  in  all  ages  of  the  world 
men  have  accepted  the  motions  of  the-  heavenly  bodies  as 
the  measure  of  duration  or  time.  It  is  these  motions,  these 
sunrises  and  sunsets,  these  new  and  full  moons,  these  morn- 
ing and  evening  stars,  these  transits  of  the  meridian,  which 
have  enabled  men  to  divide  time  into  seconds,  minutes, 
hours,  days,  weeks,  months,  seasons,  years,  decades,  cen- 
turies, millenniums.  It  is  also  to  these  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  that  we  owe  such  words  as  dial,  clock, 
chronometer,  journal,  Sabbatli,  anniversary,  era,  almanac, 
calendar,  chronology,  even  that  august  word  —  History. 
Sun,  moon,  and  stars  are  man's  natural  chronometer.  "  Our 
watclies  are  but  miniature  transcripts  of  the  celestial  revo- 
lutions." Unlike  the  heavenly  clocks,  they  ever  and  anon 
get  out  of  order  ;  and  tlien  we  have  to  go  to  the  sun  again 
in  order  to  have  them  rectified.  Verily,  these  lights  which 
God  has  set  in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens  do  serve  for 
signs  and  for  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years.  True  as 
these  words  were  in  those  primeval  days,  when  men  had  so 
little  idea  of  the  distance  and  vastncss  of  the  stars,  im- 
mensely tnier  are  they  in  tliese  days  of  Copernican  astron- 
omy and  telescope  and  micrometer.  Moreover :  the  mo- 
7 


146  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  serve  us  not  only  as  measures 
of  time ;  they  also  serve  us  as  measures  of  space.  Green- 
wich on  the  Thames  owes  its  blessed  celebrity  to  our  text. 
A  gallant  ship  freighted  with  that  most  precious  of  cargoes 
— a  complement  of  passengers — has  reached  mid-ocean.  A 
fierce  gale,  lasting  hours  and  days,  bursts  upon  her.  Strong 
steersmen  grasp  the  helm  ;  but  the  tempest  is  stouter  than 
the  rudder.  Hour  after  hour,  day  after  day,  she  flies  with 
the  sweeping,  veering  blasts.  At  length  the  tempest  dies, 
and  the  clouds  break  away.  But  where  is  she  ?  How  far 
has  she  drifted  from  her  course  ?  No  islander  is  there  to 
answer — no  guide-post  within  a  thousand  miles.  True, 
her  dead  reckoning,  worked  from  her  departure,  gives 
her  i^osition  ;  but  only  approximatively.  And  the  passen- 
gers are  nervous,  and  the  captain  is  conscientious.  Where 
then  is  she  exactly  ?  Eight  o'clock  a.  m.  approaches.  The 
officer,  sextant  in  hand,  mounts  the  bridge.  Speak  not  to 
him  ;  for  he  is  about  to  talk  with  a  far-off,  celestial  Pilot. 
Peering  through  his  sextant,  he  observes  the  sun's  exact 
altitude — and  at  the  same  instant  notes  his  chronometer. 
Silently  withdra\ving  into  his  little  cabin,  he  compares  his 
observation  with  the  sun's  declination  as  given  by  the 
Nautical  Almanac,  with  the  approximate  latitude  as  given 
by  the  dead  reckoning,  and  the  local  time  with  the  Green- 
wich as  given  by  the  chronometer.  Presently  he  appears, 
saying :  "  Longitude,  so  many  degrees,  so  many  minutes, 
W."  But  this  is  not  enough.  Anxiously  he  awaits  the 
noon.  As  the  critical  moment  approaches,  again  he  takes 
his  sextant,  and  again  he  mounts  the  bridge.  Do  not 
speak  to  him,  for  again  he  is  about  to  talk  with  the  solemn 
heavens.  Again  peering  through  his  sextant,  he  observes 
the  exact  instant  the  sun  crosses  the  meridian.  Again 
silently  withdrawing  into  his  little  cabin,  and  consulting 


GENESIS   OF   THE   LUMINARIES.  147 

liis  Nautical  Almanac,  he  compares  liis  observation  of  the 
sun's  altitude  with  his  declination  for  that  instant.  Pre- 
sently he  returns,  and  with  a  smile  of  triumph  announces : 
"Latitude,  so  many  degrees,  so  many  minutes,  N. ;  from 
New  York  so  many  miles  ;  from  Liverpool  so  many  miles." 
Thus  Earth  has  questioned  Heaven,  and  Heaven  has  an- 
swered Earth.  And  so  it  has  happened  ten  thousand  times, 
alike  in  Atlantic,  in  Pacific,  in  Indian,  and  in  Caribbean. 
Polyglot  indeed  is  the  language  of  the  skies.  There  is 
no  speech,  nor  language,  where  their  voice  is  not  heard ; 
their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  their  words 
to  the  end  of  the  world  (Psalm  xix.  i-4). 

But  our  passage  assigns  still  another 
!C.~  °  f!^^    '°  ^    reason  why  the  Creator  set  the  lumina- 

on  the  Larth.  _        ^  -^ 

ries  in  the  expanse  of  tlie  heavens ;  it 
is  that  they  may  give  light  on  the  earth.  "  God  made  the 
two  great  lights ;  the  greater  light  to  rule  the  day ;  the 
lesser  light  to  rule  the  night ;  and  the  stars ;  and  He  set 
them  in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens  to  give  light  on  the 
earth."  Resj^ecting  the  indispensableness  of  light  as  one 
of  the  essential  conditions  of  human  activity  and  of  life 
itself,  I  need  not  speak  to-day  ;  for  we  have  already  des- 
canted on  it  in  our  study  of  the  First  Day,  when  God  said : 
"  Let  light  be  ;  "  and  light  was.  Yet  before  leaving  the 
point  it  will  be  proper  to  give  a  moment's  consideration  to 
a  question  which  this  light-giving  office  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  as  asserted  in  our  text,  raises.  TVlien,  on  the  one 
hand,  we  remember  that  the  sun  outweighs  355,000  earths, 
and  that,  immense  as  the  sun  is,  it  is  one  of  the  smallest 
of  the  countless  stars— Alcyone,  e.  g.,  being  12,00()  times 
larger ;  and  when,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  told  that  the 
sun  and  stars  were  set  in  the  heavens  to  give  light  to  this 
tiny  eartli :  does  it  not  look  like  a  vast  disproportion  of 


148  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

means  to  ends  ?  The  answer  is  twofold  :  First,  Moses  is 
not  giving  us  a  history  of  tlie  heavens ;  he  is  giving  us  a 
history  of  the  earth,  mentioning  the  heavens  only  as  they 
affect  the  earth.  He  does  not  profess  to  be  an  astronomer, 
knowing  all  about  the  distances  and  magnitudes  of  the  stai's  ; 
he  only  professes  to  describe  things  as  he  saw  them  in  pan- 
oramic trance.  Thus  seeing  them,  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  did  seem  to  him  as  though  set  in  the  heavens  to  give 
lio'ht  on  the  earth.  The  other  answer  is  this :  Greatness 
does  not  depend  on  bulk.  To  human  vision  nothing  was 
ever  smaller  than  that  grain  of  seed  which  fell  into  Calvary's 
soil  and  died.  To  angelic  vision  nothing  will  ever  be  vaster 
than  that  Tree  of  Life  which,  having  sprung  up  from  Cal- 
vary's dying  seed,  is  ovei'shadowing.human  space  and  human 
time,  and  sending  out  its  boughs  through  all  the  immensities. 
Such  is  the  threefold  ministry  of  the  heavenly  bodies : 
to  give  alternations  of  day  and  night ;  to  give  notations  of 
time ;  and  to  give  light  on  the  earth.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  the  ancient  world  was  so  given  to  astrology,  believing 
that  the  events  of  human  life  were  influenced  and  dom- 
inated by  the  horoscope,  or  relative  positions  and  aspects 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  at  the  moment  of  birth,  or  at  any 
other  critical  instant.  How  curious  to  note  the  relics  of 
this  hoary  supei*stition  in  such  words  as  Sunday,  Monday, 
Saturday,  Saturnine,  ill-starred,  disastrous.  Mercurial,  Mar- 
tial, Jovial,  Lunatic,  etc. !  Nevertheless,  there  is  an  Astrol- 
ogy which  is  divinely  true,  dominating  our  everlasting  des- 
tiny ;  it  is  the  Star  of  Bethlehem.  God  grant  each  of  us 
that  that  Star  in  the  East,  rising  in  the  firmament  of  our 
second  birth,  or  true  house  of  Nativity,  may  evermore  be 
the  Lord  of  the  Ascendant.  Ay,  let  Him  be  the  true  Jo- 
seph, before  whom  sun,  moon,  planets,  and  all  stars  of 
heaven  make  perpetual  obeisance  (Gen.  xxxvii.  9-ii). 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LUMINARIES.  149 

"  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 

■~  °      ^       '    And  M^ell  mio-lit  tlie  Creator  take  de- 
was  (jOOQ,  ,  .  ^ 

liglit  in  the  advent  of  His  hiniinaries. 
When  Ave  remember  how  beneficently  the  arrangements  of 
the  Fom'th  Day  affect  all  life — vegetal,  animal,  human ; 
how  they  give  us  the  blessed  alternations  of  day  and  night, 
spring  and  autumn,  work  and  rest ;  when  we  remember 
how  they  give  us  ability  to  make  and  keep  appointments 
and  obligations,  whether  secular  or  religious,  enabling  us 
to  fix  our  railway  time-tables,  to  know  the  time  of  the  ma- 
turing of  an  obligation,  to  calendar  human  history,  to  date 
our  documents  and  correspondence — e.  g.,  3  p.  m.,  Febniary 
2G,  1878 — to  know  when  Sunday  comes,  to  celebrate  anni- 
versaries of  Birthday  and  Centemiial,  Christmas  and  Eas- 
ter, to  divide  our  otherwise  dateless,  monotonous,  stale  life 
into  refreshing  changes  of  chapters,  paragraphs,  verses,  and 
clauses ;  when  we  remember  that  it  is  the  periodically-re- 
current motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  which  awaken  the 
instincts  of  order  and  method,  instigating  us  to  arrange 
our  lives  systematically,  and  take  on  habits — that  is  to  say, 
character — every  moniing  astronomically  inviting  us  to 
pray:  "Father,  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread;"  when 
we  remember  how  these 

"  Far-reacliini?  concords  of  astronomy, 
Felt  in  the  plants  and  in  the  punctual  birds," 

— (R.  W.  Emerson) 

regulate  the  vital  periods  or  cycles  of  all  terrestrial  life, 
gi\nng  to  vegetation  that  year  which  it  needs  for  its 
growth  and  its  hibernation,  its  seed-time  and  its  harvest ; 
to  birds  that  twelvemonth  which  they  must  have  for  mat- 
ing, nesting,  hatching,  fledgiug,  migrating,  returning,  thus 
enabling  the  stork  in  the  heavens  to  know  her  appointed 
times,  and  the  turtle-dove,  and  the  swallow,  and  the  crane, 


150  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

to  observe  the  time  of  tlieir  coming  (Jer.  viii.  l) — so  tliat 
the  very  animals  and  plants  become  in  their  turn  nat- 
ural chronometers,  striking  tally  with  the  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  ;  when  we  remember  that,  without  these 
divisions  of  time  which  the  sidereal  motions  suggest  and 
maintain,  there  could  be  no  clock,  no  calendar,  no  chronol- 
ogy, no  histoiy,  no  sense  of  progress,  no  goal  of  anticipa- 
tion— in  short,  when  we  remember  that  our  very  thinking 
consecutively  depends  on  succession  in  time,  which  succes- 
sion is  offered  and  regulated  by  the  apparent  motions  of 
the  starry  hosts ;  when  we  remember  all  this,  we,  too,  may 
gratefully  share  in  the  Creator's  delight,  and  with  Him 
pronounce  the  work  of  the  Fourth  Day  very  good. 

"  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  Thy  works! 
In  wisdom  hast  Thou  made  them  all."— (Psalm  civ.  2-i.) 

"  The  day  is  Thine,  the  night  also  is  Thine. 
Thou  hast  prepared  the  light  and  the  sun  ; 
Thou  hast  set  all  the  borders  of  the  earth  ; 
Thou  hast  formed  summer  and  winter." 

—(Psalm  Ixxiv.  10, 17.) 

*'  Yea,  Thoa  hast  made  everything  beautiful  in  its  time," 

— (ECOLESIASTES  iii.  11.'' 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Luminaries. 

And  now,  what  are  the  moral  les- 
'T^  ^^L    *^^^'  sons  of  the  story  ?    It  teaches  many.     I 

lug  of  the  btory.  -n  . 

Will  mention  two. 

1.— The  Luminaries         And,  first :  these  mighty  ordinances 

are  Guides   to   Jesus    ^f  ^^^  ^^^  jj^^^j^^  ^^^  ^^.^^.^^  ^j^jg  ^gSSed 

covenant  of  Day  and  Night,  of  Seasons 
and  Years,  are  shining  index-fingers,  everlastingly  pointing 
to  Jesus  the  Christ.  In  fact,  the  Creator  has  expressly 
bidden  us  accept  Ilis  ordinances  of  the  heavenly  bodies  as 
the  pledge  of  His  Covenant  of  Grace  in  the  Divine  Son 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LUMINARIES.  151 

of  Mary :  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Who  giveth  the  sun  for 
light  by  day,  and  the  ordinances  of  the  moon  and  the 
stars  for  light  by  night:  'If  ye  can  break  My  covenant 
of  the  Day,  and  My  covenant  of  the  Night,  so  that  there 
should  not  be  day  and  night  in  their  season ;  then  also 
My  covenant  shall  be  broken  with  David  My  servant, 
that  he  should  not  have  a  son  to  reign  upon  his  throne ' 
(Jer.  xxxi.  35 ;  xxxiii.  20-26) ;  '  for  I  have  swom  in  My  holi- 
ness to  Da^dd,  that  his  seed  shall  be  forever,  and  his 
throne  as  the  sun  before  Me_,-  it  shall  be  established  for- 
ever as  the  moon,  and  as  the  faithful  witness  in  the 
skies ' "  (Psalm  ixxxix.  35-37).  Yea,  Thou  Creator-Eedeemer, 
we  accept  Thy  glorious  Heavens  as  the  shining  prophets  of 
Thy  Grace.  Nor  have  they  been  pointing  to  Immanuel 
in  vain.  Ah,  friends,  not  aiways  shall  Genius  and  Unbe- 
lief go  hand  in  hand  ;  not  always  shall  learning  be  philos- 
ophy of  vain  deceit  (Col.  ii.  8),  or  oppositions  of  Science, 
falsely  so  called  (i  Tim.  vi.  20).  In  the  homage  of  the  "Wise 
Men  from  the  East  at  the  shrine  of  the  Nativity,  Faith 
and  Science  were  betrothed,  and  the  world  will  yet  cele- 
brate their  open  bridal.  Then  will  it  be  confessed  that 
the  Lord  of  Creation  and  the  Lord  of  Eedemption  is 
one;  that  the  Finger  which  wi'ote  on  the  tables  of  the 
Silurian  sandstone  is  the  Finger  which  wrote  on  the  ta- 
bles of  the  Sinaitic  granite  ;  that  the  Hand  which  reared 
the  gigantic  forests  of  the  Carboniferous  Era  is  the  Hand 
which  was  nailed  to  Calvary's  tree ;  that  the  Dixit  which 
islanded  primeval  space  with  nebulous  masses  is  the  Dixit 
which  jeweled  the  Judean  night-dome  with  tlie  Star  of 
Bethlehem,  Tea,  the  day  is  at  hand  when  Astronomy, 
conscious  of  her  august  calling,  shall  proudly  inscribe 
on  her  frontlet  the  blazing  legend :  "  Sun  of  Eighteous- 

neSS  "  (Mai.  iv.  2). 


152  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

The    other    lesson    is  this :    Jesus 
2.— Christ  and  His  Christ  and  His  Church  and  His  Truths 

Church      and      His  -i      x  t         •         •  i  •    •         •      j.-i 

rr    .u      .u      rr       arc  thc  truc  Luminaries,  shinme;  m  the 
Truths      the     True  '     ,  p 

Luminaries.  tiTie  Heavens.     Jesus  Christ  Himself  is 

the  true  Greater  Light,  ruling  the  day 
as  the  Sun  of  Kighteousness,  coming  out  of  the  chamber 
of  His  Eternity  as  the  King  of  the  worlds,  going  forth 
from  the  ends  of  the  heavens,  circling  unto  the  ends  there- 
of, and  nothing  is  hidden  from  His  heat  (Psalm  xix.  5,  6). 
The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ — Immanuel's  real,  spiritual 
Church,  the  aggregate  of  Saintly  Characters — is  the  true 
lesser  Light :  ruling  the  night  as  the  moon  of  His  Grace, 
shining  because  He  shines  uj^on  her,  silvering  the  patliAvay 
of  this  world's  benighted  travelers.  The  Truths  of  Jesus 
Christ — ^the  Truths  which  He  came  to  disclose — are  the  true 
Stars  of  Heaven,  from  age  to  age  sparkling  on  His  brow 
as  His  many-jeweled  diadem.  And  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
Church  and  His  Truths  are  the  world's  true  regulators — 
serving  for  its  signs  and  its  seasons,  its  days  and  its  years. 
Let  me  cite  a  single  instance.  "Why  do  not  the  world's 
scholars  still  measure  time  from  the  Greek  Olympiads  ? 
Why  do  not  the  world's  kings  still  reckon  their  annals 
from  the  Year  of  Rome  ?  "Why  do  not  the  world's  scien- 
tists date  their  era  from  some  memorable  Transit  or  Oc- 
cultation?  Ah,  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Church  and  His 
Truth  are  too  much  for  them.  And  so  they  all,  even  the 
most  infidel,  bow  in  unconscious  homage  before  the  Babe 
of  Bethlehem,  reckoning  their  era  from  that  manger-birth, 
dating  their  correspondence,  their  legislations,  their  discov- 
eries, their  exploits,  with  the  august  words  :  Anno  Domini. 
Yes,  Christianity  is  Humanity's  time  Meridian,  dictating 
its  measures  of  time  and  space,  its  calendars  and  eras,  its 
latitudes  and  longitudes.    AH  history,  if  we  did  but  know 


GENESIS  OF  THE  LUMINARIES.  153 

it,  is  Time's  great  ecliptic  around  the  Eternal  Son  of  God. 

Ilajipy  the  hour,  brother,  when  the  Fourth  Day  daAvns  on 

thy  soul,  and  thou  takest  thy  place  in  the  moral  heavens, 

hencaforth  to  shine  and  rule  as  one  of  earth's  luminaries ! 

And  this  leads  me  to  my  last  point. 

A    Personal    En-   rj.^^^  j^^^^   q  f^.-^^^^  j^gt  the  day  come 

treaty.  ,  ,       '  n    i  .•  •       .^     - 

when  the  stars,  now  lighting  in  their 
courses  for  thee,  shall  fight  against  thee  (Judges  v.  20),  In 
that  coming  day  of  sackclothed  sun  and  crimsoned  moon 
and  falling  stars,  one  thing  shall  survive  the  dissolving 
heavens  and  melting  elements  :  It  is  the  Blood-bought 
Church  of  the  Living  God.  Even  now  I  see  her,  as  in 
visions  of  Patmos,  clothed  with  the  sun,  under  her  feet  the 
moon,  on  her  head  the  diadem  of  twelve  stars  (Rev.  xii.  i). 
Oh,  then,  live  worthily  of  thine  ineffable  calling.  Let 
it  not  be  enough  that  thy  Maker,  in  reducing  the  chaos 
of  thy  soul  to  order,  does  the  work  of  the  First  Day,  shin- 
ing into  thy  dark  heart,  and  giving  thee  light ;  let  the 
Fourth  Day  come,  that  thou,  too,  in  thy  turn,  mayst  be  a 
light  to  othei-s,  even  those  who  are  still  walking  in  dark- 
ness, and  dwelling  in  the  land  of  the  shadow  of  death.  So 
shalt  thou  find  that 

"  the  toppling  crags  of  Duty  scaled, 
Are  close  upon  the  shining  table-lands 
To  which  our  God  Himself  is  moon  and  sun." 

— (Tennyson.) 

So  shalt  thou  keep  in  chime  with  yon  circling  stars,  doing 
thy  Father's  will  on  earth,  even  as  they  do  it  in  the 
heavens.     For, 

"  There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st 
But  in  liis  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubins. 

— ("  Merchant  of  Venice,"  v.  1.) 


154  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Oh,  read  tlien  aright  the  lessons  Ahnighty  God  has 
written  in  blazing  characters  on  heaven's  empjTean.  With 
the  Wise  Men  from  the  East  be  led  by  Bethlehem's  Star 
to  the  House  of  Eternal  Bread.  Then,  in  that  day  of  dis- 
solving nature,  when  many  of  earth's  brightest  ones,  sons 
of  the  morning,  shall,  Lucifer-like,  fall,  to  go  out  in  ever- 
lasting blackness,  thou  shalt  orb  forth  into  everlasting 
splendor.  Then  shall  the  light  of  thy  moon  be  as  the  light 
of  the  Sim,  and  the  light  of  thy  sun  sevenfold,  as  the  light 
of  seven  days  (Is.  xxx.  26) :  for  Jehovah  shall  be  unto  thee 
an  everlasting  light,  and  thy  God  thy  glory  (Is.  Ix.  19).  Oh, 
that  that  promised  day  would  swiftly  come  ! 

"  Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night, 

What  its  signs  of  promise  are. 
Traveler,  o'er  yon  mountain  height 

See  that  glory-beaming  Star. 
Watchman,  does  its  beauteous  ray 

Aught  of  hope  or  joy  foretell? 
Traveler,  yes  ;  it  brings  the  day, 

Promised  day  of  Israel. 

*'  Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night  ; 

Higher  yet  that  Star  ascends. 
Traveler,  blessedness  and  light, 

Peace  and  truth  its  course  portends. 
Watchman,  will  its  beams  alone 

Gild  the  spot  that  gave  them  birth  1 
Traveler,  ages  are  its  own  ; 

See,  it  bursts  o'er  all  the  earth. 

"  Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night, 

For  the  morning  seems  to  dawn. 
Traveler,  darkness  takes  its  flight ; 

Doubt  and  terror  are  withdrawn. 
Watchman,  let  thy  wanderings  cease ; 

Hie  thee  to  thy  quiet  home. 


GENESIS   OF  THE   LUMINARIES.  155 

Traveler,  lo  !  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
Lo  !  the  Son  of  God  is  come." 

— (Sir  John  Bowbing.) 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUKE  IX. 


GENESIS    OF   THE   ANBIALS. 


"  And  God  said :  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  -the  mov- 
ing creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the  earth  in 
the  open  firmament  of  heaven.  And  God  created  great  whales,  and 
every  living  creature  that  moveth,  which  the  waters  brought  forth 
abundantly,  after  their  kind,  and  every  winged  fowl  after  his  kind  : 
and  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  And  God  blessed  them,  saying:  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  fill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  fowl 
multiply  in  the  earth.  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
fifth  day.  And  God  said  :  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creat- 
ure after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creeping  thing,  and  beast  of  the  earth 
after.his  kind :  and  it  was  so.  And  God  made  the  beast  of  the  earth 
after  his  kind,  and  cattle  after  their  kind,  and  everything  that  creep- 
eth  upon  the  earth  after  his  kind  :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good." — 
Genesis  i.  20-25. 

I.— Explanation          First  of  all,  let  us  attend  to  the  Ex- 

of  the  Passage.        planation  of  the  Passage. 

At  the  outset,  then,  observe  that  I 

'T^r!r^ \  J  .1  l^ave  inclnded  in  the  passage  not  mere- 
sue  of  Fifth  and  Sixth  T-l  <•  1    -^ 
Days.                       ly  the  work  oi  the  Fifth  Day,  but  also 

the  first  part  of  the  work  of  the  Sixth. 
My  reasons  for  thus  considering  them  in  one  lecture  is 
that  they  naturally  form  a  single  and  distinct  topic,  name- 
ly, the  Creation  of  Animals ;  while  the  second  part  of  the 
work  of  the  Sixth  Day  as  naturally  forms  another  single 


GENESIS   OF  THE  ANIMALS  157 

and  distinct  topic,  namely,  the  Creation  of  Man.  More- 
over :  remembering  that  the  measures  of  time  in  this  Cre- 
ation Archive  are  not  Uteral  days  of  twentj-four  liom*s 
each,  but  eras  of  indefinite  length,  it  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  the  Creations  on  the  various  days  more  or  less 
overlap  each  other,  the  Creation  wrought  on  any  given 
day  being  the  characteristic  work  of  that  day.  These 
explanations,  then,  justify  me  in  considering  in  one  lecture 
the  work  of  the  Fifth  Day  and  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
Sixth — that  is  to  say,  the  Genesis  of  Animals, 

Kemembering,  now,  that  onr  Chroni- 
2.  —  Panorama  of  ^^qy  cloes  not  prof CSS  to  be  a  zoologist, 
^^jg  °  ""  but  only  an  observer  and  describer  of  a 
passing  scene,  let  us  again  ascend  his 
mount  of  vision,  and  survey  the  unrolling  panorama  of  the 
Emerging  Animals.  The  Fourth  Day,  with  its  flood  of 
solar  light,  has  come.  But,  though  the  soil  is  verdant 
with  glorious  vegetation,  no  beast  walks  the  land,  no  bird 
flies  the  air,  no  fish  swims  the  sea.  And  now  is  heard 
again  the  Omnific  Word :  "  Let  Animals  be  !  "  And,  lo, 
the  nautilus  spreads  his  sail,  and  the  cateiiDillar  winds  his 
cocoon,  and  the  spider  weaves  his  web,  and  the  salmon 
darts  through  the  sea,  and  the  lizard  glides  among  the 
rocks,  and  the  eagle  soars  the  sky,  and  the  lion  roams  the 
jungle,  and  the  monkey  chatters  among  the  trees,  and  all 
animate  Creation  waits  the  advent  and  lordship  of  Man, 
God's  Inspiration  and  therefore  God's  Image,  God's  Image 
and  therefore  God's  Viceroy. 

For,  observe  that  our  passage  sets 
3. -The    Animal  ^^^^^^  ^j^^  Gencsis  of  the  Animafs  in  an 

j.ggg  ''^       '         °    ascending  order.     Fii-st,  Animals  of  the 

water  :   "  God  said  :   '  Let    the  waters 

swarm  with  swarms  of  living  beings ; '  and  God  created 


158  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  great  sea-monsters — literally,  long-extended  creatures — 
and  every  living  thing  that  moveth,  with  which  the  waters 
swarm,  after  their  kind."  Secondly,  Animals  of  the  air : 
"  God  said :  '  Let  birds  fly  above  the  earth  along  the  ex- 
panse of  the  heavens  ; '  and  God  created  every  winged  bird, 
after  its  kind."  Thirdly,  Animals  of  the  land :  "  God 
said  :  '  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  being,  after  its 
kind,  cattle  and  reptile  and  beast  of  the  earth,  after  its 
kind : '  and  it  was  so."  Fonrthly,  Man :  "  God  said  :  '  Let 
Us  make  man  in  Our  image,  after  Our  likeness  :'  and  God 
created  the  man  in  His  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  He  him ;  male  and  female  created  He  them." 
And  with  this  Mosaic  account  of  the  Origin  of  Life,  ascend- 
ing from  plant,  by  way  of  animal,  to  man,  the  geological 
records  substantially  agree :  first,  plants  and  fishes  of  the 
Palaeozoic  period ;  secondly,  birds  and  reptiles  of  the  Meso- 
zoic  period ;  thirdly,  mammals  and  man  of  the  !N^eozoic 
jjei-iod.  Remember,  now,  that  our  Passage,  even  as  the 
most  skeptical  scholars  concede,  was  in  existence  as  a  piece 
of  literature  at  least  twenty-five  centuries  ago.  Kemember, 
also,  that  Geology  has  not  yet  celebrated  her  first  Centen- 
nial. And  now  I  have  a  question  to  ask.  How  hapj>ens 
it  that  that  far-oif,  unlored  witness  of  Creation's  panorama, 
writing,  as  I  believe,  centuries  before  the  Trojan  War  be- 
gan, succeeded  in  so  nearly  formulating  the  teachings  of 
modern  Geology  ?  Look  at  this  very  curious,  most  sug- 
gestive fact.  That  ancient  Chronicler  tells  us  that  God  on 
the  Fifth  Day  created  the  tanninim  /  that  is  to  say,  long- 
extended  creatures.  What,  now,  did  he  mean  by  these 
taninnim,  or  long-extended  creatures^  Whales?  So 
thought  the  scholars  of  250  years  ago.  To  them  the 
whale  was  the  longest  creature  known.  Accordingly, 
when  in  IGll,  by  commission  of  James  L,  the  learned 


GENESIS  OF  THE  ANIMALS 


159 


Revisers  of  the  "  Bishops'  Bible  "  gave  to  the  world  the 
translation  known  as  the  "  Authorized  Version,"  they  ren- 
dered the  word  tannin  by  the  word  whale  :  "  God  created 
great  whales."     But  in  1611  Geology,  as  a  definite  science, 
had  not  been  born ;  she  is  the  blooming  daughter  of  the 
nineteenth  century.     But,  though  her  hands  are  youthful 
and  delicate,  she  has  succeeded  in  many  a  place  in  uj)heav- 
ing  earth's  rocky  cmst ;  and,  lo,  here  and  there,  in  Europe 
and  Australia,  in  Asia  and  America,  there  come  to  light 
gigantic  fossils  of  tannitiim  indeed,  vast  animal  exten- 
sions, thirty,  forty,  fifty,  sixty,  seventy,  eighty  feet  long ; 
fossils  of  colossal  creatures  which  became  extinct  untold 
ages  before  Adam  awoke  in  Eden  to  kiss  his  Ileaven-given 
bride.     The  difference  between  the  modem  geologist  and 
the  ancient  Chronicler  is  this:  the  Geologist  calls  these 
enormous   fossils   by  names   almost  as  enormous :   Dino- 
saurs,  Hydrosaurs,   Icbthyosaurs,   Mosasaurs,    Plesiosaurs, 
Pterodactyls,  etc.     The  hoary  Witness  of  Creation's  pano- 
rama was  not  a  geologist  ;  he  was  only  an  observer,  and 
therefore  he  called  them  "  long-extended  creatures."    And 
so  fair  Geology,  dowered  with  the  glorious  heirloom  of 
untold  ages,  emerges  from  the  rocky  sepulchre  of  an  im- 
memorial antiquity,   and,  ascending  the  witness-stand  of 
Time,  sets  aside  the  mistranslations  of  the  learned  and 
ecclesiastical  past,  and,  kneeling  before  the  hoary  transcri- 
ber of  the  primeval  Creation  Tradition,  solemnly  sweai-s 
that  he  alone  speaks  the  truth.     Ay,  the  very  stones  of 
the  field  are  in  league  with  the  sons  of  God.     But  let  me 
not  be  diverted  from  the  point  in  hand.     I  was  speaking 
of  the  ascending  order  of  the  animal  creation.     And  the 
ascending  order  is  prophetic  as  well  as  historic.     The  plant 
suggests  the  animal ;  the  animal  suggests  man.     For  man 
himself  begins  as  a  microscopic,  plant-like  cell,  and,  unfold- 


160  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

ing  along  the  scale  of  the  animal  creation,  ciihninates  in 
being  a  temple  of  God.  Alas !  many  men  never  outgrow 
the  animal,  forever  contentedly  creeping.  Alas,  alas !  some 
men  never  outgrow  the  plant,  forever  simply  vegetating ; 
and  this  only  as  the  flowerless  cryptogams,  the  parasitic 
fungi  of  society. 

Kot  that  the  ascending  order  of  the 

4. — "After     their         .       ^  .  tt  t?      i    x-  u; 

„.  ,  „  animal  succession  was  an  "  Ji, volution  oi 

Kind, 

Species  into  Species."  In  the  first  place, 
as  was  shown  in  the  Lecture  on  Plants,  "  Species  "  is  but  an 
abstract  term,  a  mere  concept,  having  no  concrete,  objective 
existence  in  the  world  of  matter :  who  ever  saw  a  Species  ? 
Again :  Evolutionists  use  their  shibboleth — "  Evolution  " — 
v^eiy  hazily,  confounding  it  with  transmutation,  which  is 
an  utterly  different  thing.  Evolution — if  we  use  the  word 
intelligently,  not  playing  fast  and  loose  with  it — means  un- 
rolling. But  you  cannot  unroll  what  has  not  been  inroUed ; 
you  cannot  evolve  what  has  not  been  involved.  In  other 
words,  the  evolution  of  a  concrete,  definite,  objective  or- 
ganism, say  a  salmon,  a  turtle,  an  eagle,  a  whale,  a  gorilla, 
a  man,  is — if  we  use  the  word  intelligently  and  accm-ately 
— an  affair  of  weight :  and  you  cannot  evolve  a  ton  out  of 
a  kilogramme.  Nevertheless,  there  is  an  evolution  in  which 
I  believe ;  but  it  is  an  ideal  evolution :  that  is  to  say,  the 
evolution  along  the  ideal  axis  of  a  plan  and  purpose :  e.  g., 
the  unfolding  of  a  leonine  o-s^im  into  tlie  adult  lion  is  an 
evolution  along  the  ideal  axis  of  a  vertebrate  mammal.  In 
this  sense,  our  hoary  Chronicler  was  an  evolutionist.  Ob- 
serve the  emphatic,  solemn  frequency  with  which  he  uses 
the  profound  phrase :  "  After  his  kind  ; "  i.  e.,  "  After  his 
plan,  idea."  Seven  times  is  the  phrase  repeated  in  our 
brief  passage.  Like  the  previous,  solemn  iteration  of  the 
same  phrase  in  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Plants,  it 


GENESIS   OF  THE  ANIMALS.  Id 

almost  stands  like  a  prophetic  caveat  against  tlie  modern 
lijpotliesis  of  the  Mutability  of  Species.  Alike  according 
to  Moses  and  the  observed  facts  of  Xatiire,  the  tree,  whose 
seedis  in  itself,  bears  fruit  after  its  kind ;  the  fish  of  the  sea 
bears  fishes  after  its  kind  ;  the  bird  of  the  air  bears  birds  after 
its  kind ;  the  beast  of  the  land  bears  beasts  after  its  kind. 
5  _Th    Creator's         And  now  we  pass  to  note  the  Crea- 

Blcssing.  tor's  Blessing  :  "  And  God  blessed  them, 

and  said :  '  Be  f  niitf  ul,  and  multiply, 
and  fill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  birds  multiply  on 
the  earth.'  "  Observe  :  our  Chronicler  represents  the  Cre- 
ator as  speaking  to  the  animals.  This  is  one  of  the  many 
hints  which  drive  us  to  the  conclusion  that  this  Creation 
Archive  is  not  to  be  taken  literally,  but  as  tlie  inspired 
portrayal  of  a  j)anoramic  vision.  And  the  Divine  blessing 
was  the  benediction  of  fertility.  The  fecundity  of  animals 
is  simply  amazing.  Eecall,  e.  g.,  the  enonnous  ratio  of 
increase  of  the  shad  and  the  salmon  as  propagated  by  the 
modern  methods  of  fish-culture.  It  is  asserted  that  a  sin- 
gle spawning-gromid  of  the  herring  contains  a  hundred 
thousand  million  eggs.  And  as  to  the  animalcules,  the 
number  is  simply  inconceivable  ;  earth's  vast  strata  of  lime- 
stone and  reefs  of  coral  and  cliffs  of  chalk  being  the  solidi- 
fied secretions  of  microscopic  animal  life. 

"  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 

P^jj^jj^  And  well  might  He  rejoice  in  the  ad- 

vent of  His  Animals.  And  so  also  may 
we.  When  we  remember  how  wonderful  are  the  con- 
trivances of  the  animal  economy — contrivances  of  organ 
and  tissue  and  nerve  and  muscle  and  bone  and  teeth — con- 
trivances of  digestion  and  circulation  and  respiration  and 
reproduction — contrivances  of  feeling  and  tasting  and  hear- 
ing and  seeing  and  moving ;    when  we  remember  how 


162  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

serviceable  many  of  the  animals  are  to  man — how  the 
camel  bears  him  across  the  desert  and  the  reindeer  across 
the  snows — how  the  ox  and  the  ass  and  the  horse  draw  his 
burdens — how  the  fish  and  the  bird  and  the  beef  furnish 
him  with  food — how  the  sheep  and  the  silk-wonn  supply 
him  with  clothing — ay,  how  his  very  dog  ministers  to  his 
pride  and  joy  and  love  ;  when  we  remember  how  capable 
of  pleasure  the  animals  themselves  are — how  gleefully  the 
fawn  gambols,  how  rollickingly  the  squirrel  scampers,  how 
blithely  the  bobolink  sings,  how  sportively  the  trout  darts, 
how  merrily  the  cricket  chirps,  how  friskingly  the  mote 
dances,  how  ecstatically  the  rotifer  whirls ;  when  we  re- 
member all  this,  we  too  may  share  in  the  Creator's  delight, 
and  with  Ilim  pronounce  the  setting-up  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom  very  good. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Animals. 
Xi,_jjf  oral  Mean-         And,  now,  what  is  the  Meaning  of 

ing  of  the  Story.      the  Story  ? 
Problem  of  the         It  must  be  confessed,  at  least  at  first 

Animals.  sight,  that  the  story  is  singularly  want- 

ing in  ethical  lessons.  We  can  understand  the  meaning  of 
light,  heat,  air,  plant.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of  Ani- 
mals ?  They  do  not  seem  to  be  an  essential,  constituent 
part  of  the  human  economy.  Had  never  one  of  them 
been  created,  we  could  have  lived,  as  in  fact  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  tropics  mainly  do  live,  on  vegetable  diet ;  we 
could  have  used,  as  in  fact  we  are  every  day  more  and 
more  using,  steam  power  for  horse.  And  yet,  Ehrenberg 
tells  us  that  "  one  cubic  inch  of  chalk  often  contains  more 
than  a  million  of  microscopic  skeletons ; "  and  chalk  exists 
by  the  furlong  in  depth,  the  mile  in  breadth,  the  league  in 
length.  And  we  cannot  suppose  that  God  has  created 
anything  in  vain :  "  He  saw  everything  that  He  had  made, 


GENESIS  OF   THE   ANIMALS.  163 

and,  lo,  it  was  very  good."  Here,  then,  is  a  stupendous 
fact,  and,  at  tJie  same  time,  a  stupendous  problem — the 
Animal  Creation.  No  thoughtful  man,  who  believes  in  a 
purposeful  God,  can  push  it  aside  as  unimportant.  What, 
then,  is  the  meaning  of  the  Animals  ? 

.  .     ,    ^  Consider    then,    first,    that,    if    the 

1. — Animals  have  .  ,      ,     -.  t         •       ^    ^ 

"  Souls."  Scripture  is  to  be  believed,  animals  have 

"  souls."  And  here  let  me  repeat  some 
words  given  to  the  public  more  than  ten  years  ago,'  We 
must  distinguish,  as  Holy  Writ  itself  distinguishes,  between 
Soul  and  Spirit.  The  Spirit  is  the  capacity  or  organ  by 
which  man  has  the  sense  of  God,  by  which  he  comes  into 
contact  with  Him,  and  apprehends  Him,  and  knows  Him, 
and  feels  Him,  and  loves  Him,  and  enters  into  fellowship 
with  Iliin,  and  is  made  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature 
(2  Peter  i.  4) ;  the  Spirit  is  "  the  organ  of  spiritual-minded- 
ness."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Soul  is  the  principle  of 
life,  the  vital  principle,  the  mysterious  force  which  makes 
the  object  which  possesses  it,  whatever  it  be,  a  vital  thing. 
What  the  nature  of  this  force  is,  whether  material  or  im- 
material— what  its  origin  and  laws  of  working — is  the  most 
baffling,  as  well  as  fascinating,  of  !N'ature's  secrets ;  hither- 
to, and  probably  for  evermore,  defying  scalpel  and  micro- 
scope, physiologist  and  pliilosopher.  And  yet,  although  we 
do  not  understand  its  origin  or  nature,  we  do  understand 
something  of  its  movements  and  relations.  Phenomenally 
surveyed,  the  Soul  seems  to  be  endowed  with  a  mysterious- 
ly gathering,  selecting,  forming,  organizing,  directing  force. 
In  some  utterly  inscrutable  way,  it  seems  to  gather  around 
it  material  atoms  for  the  body  it  infonns  and  vitalizes,  and 
manifests  itself  in  all  varieties  of  sensation,  emotion,  in- 
stinct, reason,  volition.     It  seems  to  be  the  inmost  centre 

>  See  Baptist  Quarterly,  toI.  i.,  No.  2. 


164  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

and  pivot  of  tlie  i^ersonalitj,  around  which  the  whole  man, 
as  now  constituted,  gathers,  crystallizes,  and  lives,  according 
to  an  order  of  God's  own  establishing.  In  answer  to  its 
mystic  power,  the  heart  throbs,  the  lungs  wax  and  wane, 
the  sensibilities  awaken,  the  jjassions  take  fire,  the  imagina- 
tion roams,  the  reason  marches  forth  in  logical  sequence, 
the  will  strides  on  in  exploits  of  conquest.  And  all  this  is 
shared,  though  in  an  immeasurably  lower  degree,  by  the 
animal  world.  Reason  and  instinct,  I  am  disposed  to  be- 
lieve, are  only  rel{itive,  comparative  terms.  What  in  man 
we  call  reason,  in  animals  we  call  instinct.  As  that  mys- 
terious force  which  vitalizes  and  builds  up  the  fabric  of 
the  human  body  is  the  same  mysterious  force  which  vital- 
izes and  builds  uj^  the  fabric  of  the  animalcule,  so  that 
mysterious  guide  which  teaches  Newton  how  to  establish 
the  law  of  gravity,  and  Shakespeare  how  to  write  his  "  Ham- 
let," and  Stephenson  how  to  bridge  the  St.  Lawrence, 
seems  substantially  to  be  the  same  mysterious  guide  which 
teaches  the  beaver  how  to  build  his  dam,  and  the  spider 
how  to  weave  his  web,  and  the  ant  how  to  dig  his  sj3iral 
home.  The  difference  does  not  seem  to  be  so  much  a  dif- 
ference in  nature  or  kind,  as  in  degree  or  intensity.  As 
the  diamond  is  the  same  substance  with  charcoal — only 
under  su]:>erior  crj^stalline  figure — so  reason  seems  to  be 
substantially  the  same  with  instinct — only  in  an  intensely 
organized  state.  One  thing  is  common  to  man  and  ani- 
mals :  it  is  that  mysterious  principle  or  force  which,  in 
want  of  a  better  name,  and  in  distinction  from  the  term 
spirit,  we  call  "soul."  Accordingly,  Scripture  itseK  as- 
cribes to  animals  the  possession  of  souls.  In  this  very  ac- 
count of  the  Genesis  of  Animals,  which  we  have  in  hand 
to-day,  the  tenns  describing  the  Avater  and  land  animals, 
and  rendered  in  our  Aversion  "  the  creature  that  hath  life  " 


GENESIS   OF   THE   ANIMALS.  1G5 

or  "  living  creature,"  are  literally  identical  with  the  terms 
rendered  in  the  account  of  the  Genesis  of  Man :  "  Living: 

CI 

soul."  Listen  :  "  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly 
the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,"  or,-  as  you  may  read 
in  the  margin  of  your  Bibles,  "  living  soul."  Listen  again : 
"  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature,  the  living 
soul,  after  its  kind,"  Listen  once  more  :  "  The  Lord  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into 
his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living 
soul,  a  living  creature "  (Gen.  ii.  1).  Remember  also  the 
exceedingly  meaningful  circumstance  that  the  higher  or- 
ders of  animals  and  man  were  created  in  the  same  era, 
even  on  the  same  Sixth,  culminating  Day.  "  God  said  : 
'  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature  after  his 
kind : '  and  it  was  so.  .  .  .  And  God  said :  '  Let  Us  make 
man  in  Our  image,  after  Our  likeness : '  and  God  created 
the  man  in  His  image.  ,  .  .  And  there  was  evening,  and 
there  was  morning,  a  Sixth  Day."  Ah,  we  little  know 
what  mystic  bonds  of  kinship  join  animal  and  man.  How 
humanlike  the  ways  of  the  higher  forms  of  animals! 
Whistle  for  your  devoted  Fritz.  See  how  joyously  he 
bounds  toward  you,  wagging  his  tail  in  nervous  ecstasy ; 
how  lovingly  he  rests  his  paw  and  head  on  your  knee. 
What  Shylock,  j)rotesti.ng  to  Salarino,  said  of  his  race,  you 
may  say  of  your  Fritz  :  ''  Hath  he  not  eyes  ?  Hath  he  not 
organs,  dimensions,  senses,  aifections,  passions  ?  Is  he  not 
fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt  with  the  same  weapons,  sub- 
ject to  the  same  diseases,  healed  by  the  same  means,  warmed 
and  cooled  by  the  same  winter  and  summer,  as  a  Christian 
is  ?  If  you  prick  him,  does  he  n  bleed  ?  If  you  tickle 
him,  does  he  not  langh  ?  If  you  poison  him,  docs  he  not 
die?"  ("Merchant  of  Venice,"  iii.  1.)  Verily,  animals,  even  as 
the  Scripture  saitli,  have  souls. 


166  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

And  having  souls,  wlio  knows  but 
■~     _,  ,  ^^^'^^^  that  animals,  at  least  some  of  them,  are 

are  Immortal.  ^  ^  ,     ,  ^       _ 

immortal  ?  True,  it  is  one  of  our  sapi- 
ent assumptions,  so  often  repeated  that  it  has  almost  taken 
on  the  imperial  mien  of  an  axiom,  that  man  differs  from 
the  brute  in  that  he  alone  is  immortal.  But  assumptions, 
however  natural  or  taking,  are  not  necessarily  facts.  For 
asres  men  believed  that  the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the 
universe,  and  that  the  heavenly  bodies  revolved  around  it. 
But  how  gigantic,  even  grotesque,  the  lie  !  Lives  there 
the  man  who  knows — demonstrably  knows — that  animals 
are  not  immortal  ?  Let  us  not  be  puffed  up  with  our  own 
conceits,  impounding  the  activities  of  the  Limitless  One  in 
the  tiny  paddock  of  om*  own  opinions  : 

"  There  arc  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  Horatio, 
Than  are  dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy." — ("  IIamlet,"  i.  5.) 

All,  this  mystery  of  Life,  this  problem  of  the  Yital 
Principle  common  to  man  and  animal,  this  riddle  of  the 
Psyche,  this  enigma  of  the  Soul !  I  do  not  wonder  that 
men  in  all  ages  of  the  world  have  bowed  do\\Ti  before  it. 
I  do  not  wonder  that  in  that  far-off  age,  when  intellectual 
Egypt  was  mapping  out  the  heavens  and  rearing  her  own 
mighty  pyramids,  she  knelt  before  her  Sacred  Bull  and 
Ibis  and  Beetle,  because  she  believed  them  endowed  with 
souls  and  instinct  with  immortality.  Do  not  blame  poor 
Israel  too  harshly  for  so  swiftly  relapsing  into  the  woi*ship 
of  the  Calf  they  had  seen  adored  in  Egypt ;  wretched  was 
their  sin,  but  they  had  a  profounder  reason  for  it  than  our 
proud  theology  is  willing  to  recognize.  To  him  who  pon- 
ders the  mystery  of  Life  the  lowest  microscopic  protozoan, 
hovering  on  the  dim  border  between  plant  and  animal,  is 
a  sublimer  thing  than  the  solar  system,  or  an  infinite  uni- 


GENESIS   OF  THE  ANIMALS.  1C7 

vor!=e  of  dead  atoms.  Did  you  ever  think  liow  profound, 
in  this  connection,  is  the  significance  of  the  Chenibim  of 
Scripture ;  those  wondrous  beings  wliich  guarded  the  way 
to  the  Tree  of  Life  (Gen.  iii.  24),  which  ovei-shadowed  the 
Mercy  Seat  (Ex.  xxv.  18),  which  thundered  along  the  sky  as 
the  chariot  on  which  the  God  of  the  whirlwind  royally 
rode  (Psalm  xviii.  10),  which  careered  before  the  gaze  of  the 
Babylonian  Prophet  in  trances  of  the  Chebar  (Ezek.  i.),  which 
the  Exile  of  Patnios  saw  kneeling  and  ascribing  around  the 
great  white  throne  (Rev.  iv.) — Cherubim  with  the  face  of  an 
ox  and  the  face  of  an  eagle  and  the  face  of  a  lion  and  the 
face  of  a  man  ?  Ah,  this  solemn  kinship  of  man  and  ani- 
mal !  No  wonder  that  Israel's  Lawgiver,  proclaiming  to 
his  people  the  legislation  dictated  him  from  heaven,  guarded 
so  jealously  the  sacredness  of  animal  life.  Listen  :  "  Thou 
shalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk  "  (Ex.  xxiii.  19). 
"  Whether  it  be  cow  or  ewe,  thou  shalt  not  kill  her  and 
her  young  both  in  one  day  "  (Lev.  xxil.  28).  "  If  a  bird's  nest 
cliance  to  be  bcfoi'c  thee  in  the  way,  in  any  tree,  or  on  the 
ground,  whether  they  be  young  ones  or  eggs,  and  the  dam 
sitting  upon  the  young  or  upon  the  eggs,  thou  shalt  not 
take  the  dam  with  the  young  "  (Dcut.  xxii.  6,  7).  "  Thou  shalt 
not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  com  "  (Deut.  xxv. 
4 ;  -1  Cor.  ix.  0 ;  1  Tim.  v.  18).  And  here  I  must  speak  a  word  in 
hearty  praise  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals.  Remit  not  that  gentle  institution  to  the  limbo 
of  sentimentalities.  It  is  but  carrying  out  the  merciful 
economy  Divinely  foreshadowed  in  the  Mosaic  Jurispru- 
dence, given  to  the  world  when  humanity  was  yet  in  its 
cliildhood.  Promptly  report,  then,  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties every  instance  of  cnielty.  Ah,  here  is  the  delicate, 
telling  test  of  civilization :  the  way  that  we  treat,  not  our 
superiors,  but  our  inferiors.    The  gentleman  is  a  gentle  man. 


168  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

"  I  would  not  enter  on  my  list  of  friends 
(Though  graced  with  polished  manners  and  fine  sense, 
Yet  wanting  sensibility)  the  man 
Who  needlessly  sets  foot  upon  a  worm. 
An  inadvertent  step  may  crush  the  snail 
That  crawls  at  evening  in  the  public  path ; 
But  he  that  has  humanity,  forewarned, 
Will  tread  aside,  and  let  the  reptile  live." 

— (Cowper's  "  Task.") 

The  killing  of  an  albatross  in  the  South  Seas  has  laid 
the  foundation  for  one  of  the  most  touching  ballads  in 
English  literature.  What  is  the  "  Kime  of  the  Ancient 
Mariner  "  but  a  poet's  defense  of  the  truth  that  animals 
have  souls  ? 

"  Farewell,  Farewell !  but  this  I  tell 
To  thee,  thou  Wedding  Guest ! 
lie  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

"  He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  dear  God  Who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

"  Ah,  this,"  you  tell  me,  "  is  poetry."  Listen,  then,  to 
the  calm  words  of  that  Prince  of  Scientists  wliom  Chris- 
tendom not  long  since  laid  away  amid  the  cypresses  of 
Mount  Auburn.  I  quote  from  that  profound  treatise  by 
Louis  Agassiz,  entitled  "  Essay  on  Classification  : "  "  Most 
of  the  arguments  of  philosophy  in  favor  of  the  immortality 
of  man  apply  equally  to  the  permanency  of  the  imma- 
terial principle  in  other  living  beings.  May  I  not  add  that 
a  future  life  in  which  man  should  be  deprived  of  that 
great  source  of  enjoyment  and  intellectual  and  moral  im- 
provement, which  results  from  the  contemplation  of  the 


GENESIS   OF   THE   ANIMALS.  IGO 

liarmonies  of  an  organic  world,  would  involve  a  lamentable 
loss  ?  And  may  we  not  look  to  a  spiiitual  concert  of  the 
combined  worlds  and  all  tlieir  inhabitants  in  presence  of 
their  Creator,  as  the  highest  conception  of  paradise  ? " 

And  now,  to  these  weighty  words  of 

3. — A    Memorable  ,  £    c    •  i   j.        '         u    xi 

a  master  oi  bcience,  let  me  add  the 
weightier  words  of  a  master  of  Theol- 
ogy :  "  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are 
of  no  account  compared  with  the  glory  which  is  to  be  re- 
vealed in  us.  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creation 
is  waiting  for  the  revelation  of  the  sons  of  God.  For  the 
creation  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  of  its  own  will,  but 
by  reason  of  Him  Who  made  it  subject,  in  hope  that  even  the 
creation  itself  will  be  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  corruption 
into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God.  For 
we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth 
in  pain  together  until  now  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  even 
we  who  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  our- 
selves groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  the 
redemption  of  our  body "  (Rom.  viii.  19-23).  "  Ah,  poetry 
again,"  you  tell  me.  Nevertheless,  brother,  you  believe 
the  rest  of  this  glorious  chapter.  You  exult  in  the  eighth 
chapter  of  Romans  as  one  of  the  stoutest  bulwarks  of 
Cliristian  theology — one  of  the  dearest  treasures  of  Chris- 
tian experience.  You  never  tire  of  quoting  the  first  verse  : 
"  There  is  now  no  condemnation  to  those  who  are  in  Christ 
Jesus."  You  never  tire  of  quoting  the  last  verse  :  "  I  am 
persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  prin- 
cipalities, nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  created  thing 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  M'hich  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  You  believe  what  precedes, 
and  you  believe  what  follows ;  why  not  believe  what  inter- 
S 


170  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

venes  ?     Yes,  it  is  poetry — genuine,  sublime  poetry.     For 

wlio  is  the  poet  ?     The  man  who  makes  melodious  rhymes 

and  metres  ?     If  that  is  all  he  does,  he  is  only  a  poetaster. 

The  poet  is  the  man  who  detects  distant,  recondite  truth, 

and  masterfully  expresses  it.     And  Paul  is  precisely  sucli 

a  poet.     This  magnificent  paragraph  is  one  of  the  noblest 

poetic  bursts  that  ever  fell  on  the  ear  of  listening  man. 

Let  us  dwell  on  it  a  little  in  detail. 

And,  first :  It  is  the  picture  of  a  sor- 

•     n*-   ^     ^^^^'  rowful  creation:  "We  know  that  the 
ing  Creation. 

whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth 
in  pain  together  until  now."  JSTature's  tones,  we  are  told, 
are  largely  in  the  minor  key.  How  sad,  notwithstanding 
its  majesty,  the  mournful  booming,  the  funereal  minute- 
guns,  of  the  great  surging  sea  !  Did  you  ever  hear  a  more 
melancholy  cadence  than  the  wind  of  God  as  it  sweeps 
through  the  sere  foliage  of  autumn,  or  as  it  sets  in  weird 
tremors  telegraph-wires  spanning  desolate  regions?  So, 
too,  the  wind  and  howl  of  the  animal  world  is  in  the  minor 
key: 

"  I  heard  the  wild  beasts  in  the  woods  complain ; 
Some  slept,  while  others  wakened  to  sustain 
Through  night  and  day  the  sad  monotonous  round, 
Half  savage  and  half  pitiful  the  sound. 

"  The  outcry  rose  to  God  through  all  the  air, 

The  worship  of  distress,  an  animal  prayer, 

Loud  vehement  pleadings,  not  unlike  to  those 

Job  ottered  in  his  agony  of  woes." 

— (F.  W.  Faber.) 

Look,  again,  at  the  abortiveness  of  the  Creation.  Be- 
hold its  droughts  and  floods,  its  fires  and  blights,  its  deserts 
and  earthquakes,  its  monstrosities  and  abortions,  its  sick- 
nesses and  deaths.     Behold  the  incessant  warfare  of  tlie 


GENESIS  OF  THE  ANIMALS.  171 

animal  tribes,  slaying  each  other  almost  as  soon  as  born, 
earth's  crust  being  largely  made  np  of  the  murdered  re- 
mains of  those  to  whose  parents  the  Lord  of  the  Fifth  Day 
gave  the  breath  of  life,  or  living  soul.  Yerily,  the  Crea- 
tion hath  been  made  subject  to  vanity.  But  must  this 
abortiveness  forever  continue  ?  Shall  the  bar  sinister  never 
be  removed  from  Nature's  shield  ?  Ah,  this  Sphinx  of  the 
Animal  Creation !  Where  is  the  (Edipus  who  shall  solve 
it  ?  With  what  hopeful  doubt  and  doubtful  hope  the 
Laureate  sings  it : 

"  Oh  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 
Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill, 
To  pangs  of  Nature,  sins  of  will, 
Defects  of  doubt,  and  taints  of  blood ; 

*'  That  nothing  walks  with  aimless  feet; 
That  not  one  life  shall  be  destroyed, 
Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void, 
When  God  hath  made  the  pile  complete  ; 

"  That  not  a  worm  is  cloven  in  vain ; 
That  not  a  moth  with  vain  desire 
Is  shriveled  in  a  fruitless  fire. 
Or  but  subserves  another's  gain. 

"  Behold,  we  know  not  anything; 
I  can  but  trust  that  good  shall  fall 
At  last — far  off — at  last,  to  all. 
And  every  winter  change  to  spring. 

"  So  runs  my  dream  :  but  what  am  I? 
An  infant  crying  in  the  night : 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light: 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry. 

*'  The  wish,  that  of  the  living  whole 
No  life  may  fail  beyond  the  grave, 
Derives  it  not  from  what  we  have 
The  likest  God  within  the  soul  ? 


172  STTDLES   IS"   THE   CREATIVE    WEEK. 

"  Are  God  and  Xamre  then  at  strife. 
That  Xatnre  lends  such  evil  dreams  ? 
So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 
So  careless  of  the  single  life  ; 

"  That  I,  considering  eTervwhere 
Her  secret  meaning  in  her  deeds, 
And  finding  that  of  fifty  seeds 
She  often  brings  but  one  to  bear : 

"  I  falter  where  I  firmly  trod, 

And,  falling  with  my  weight  of  cares 
Upon  the  great  world's  altar-stairs 
That  slope  through  darkness  ap  to  God, 

''  I  stretch  lame  hands  of  faith,  and  grope, 
And  gather  dost  and  cbafE.  and  call 
To  what  I  feel  is  Lord  of  all. 
And  faintly  trust  the  larger  hope.'' 

— (•'  br  IfEMOEiAX,''  liv.^v.) 

Turn  we  then  from  the  strnggling, 
(6.)— The  Glorioas  .  4.  ^  .  *i 

^   .  veenno:  poet  to  rest  on  the  more  sure 

PropnecT.  ^  ^ 

word  of  Prophecv :  '•  The  Creation  was 
made  subject  to  vanity,  not  of  its  own  will,  but  br  reason 
of  Him  Who  made  it  subject,  in  hope  that  the  Creation  it- 
self will  be  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into 
the  Hbertr  of  the  glorv  of  the  children  of  God."  Xot 
only  man,  then,  but  also  all  Creation,  whereof  man  stands 
as  the  head,  and  sensorium.  and  epitome,  and  representa- 
tive, is  to  be  rescued  from  the  thralldom  of  decay  and  dis- 
solution, and  emancipated  into  the  freedom  of  the  splendor 
of  God's  sons.  It  is  a  blessed  vision  of  that  coming  Kes- 
titution  of  all  things  (Acts  iiL  21),  that  glorious  Palingenesis, 
or  Regeneration  of  Xature.  to  which  the  Son  of  God  Him- 
self alludes  when,  addressing  His  disciples.  He  said  :  "  In 
the  Palingenesia,  in  the  Pegeneration,  when  the  Son  of 


GEXESIS   OF   THE   ANIMALS.  I73 

Man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  His  Glorj,  ye  also  shall  sit 
on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel " 
{Matt.  xix.  28).  That  is  to  Say,  in  that  coming  Regeneration 
of  Nature  the  curse  shall  be  lifted  off  from  Creation,  and 
earth  shall  be  Eden  again.  For  there  are  to  be  not  only 
the  new  heavens,  thank  God,  there  is  also  to  be  the  new 
earth — ay,  a  new  earth,  it  may  be,  like  this  very  earth  we 
are  treading,  only  transfigured  (2  Peter  iii.  13).  Then  in  that 
day  when  the  Lord  shall  return  to  bind  up  the  breach  of 
His  people,  and  heal  the  stroke  of  their  wound  (Is.  xxx.  26), 
and  to  make  all  things  new  again,  "  The  wolf  shall  indeed 
dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with 
the  kid  ;  and  the  calf,  and  the  young  lion,  and  the  falling 
shall  feed  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them ;  and 
the  cow  and  bear  shall  feed,  their  young  ones  shall  he  down 
together,  and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox,  and  the 
sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the 
Avcaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den ; 
tliey  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  His  holy  mountain, 
for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  as  the  coming  waters  cover  the  sea  "  (Is.  xi.  6-9). 
Yes,  in  that  coming  Restitution  of  all  things,  the  lion  and 
the  tiger,  which  now  live  only  to  prey  on  each  other  and 
be  the  dread  of  man,  shall  come  trooping  back  again  to 
man  redeemed  in  the  Second  Adam,  even  as  they  had 
already  gone  trooping  to  the  unfallen  Adam  in  Eden 
(Gen.  ii.  19).  "What  tliough  tlic  first  Adam,  earth's  poor  Sam- 
son, grasped  in  his  blindness  the  pillars  that  supported  the 
temple  of  Nature,  and,  falling,  pulled  down  all  Nature 
with  him  ?  Earth's  poor  Samson  shall  yet  hear  the  Resur- 
rection voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and,  "  re-orient  from  the 
dust,"  shall  again  lift  up  with  himself  the  pillars  of  Na- 
ture's temple. 


174  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Observe  now,  finally,  the  Majestic 
Posture  ^  ^^^^  ^^  Posture  :  "  The  earnest  expectation  of 
the  Creation  is  waiting  for  the  revela- 
tion of  the  Sons  of  God."  The  earnest  expectation  of  the 
Creation  is  waiting.  It  is  the  Poet- Apostle's  master-stroke : 
Weary  Creation  peering  forward  in  the  yearning  attitude 
of  outstretched  neck  and  hand.  There  is  on  one  of  the 
mountains  of  New  England  what  to  me  is  the  most  mar- 
velous natural  phenomenon  in  the  world.  For  nearly  a 
score  of  yeai*s,  every  summer  that  I  have  been  this  side 
the  Atlantic,  I  have  visited  it ;  every  time  I  have  vis- 
ited it,  I  have  lifted  my  hat  and  bowed  in  its  presence. 
I  do  not  know  why  the  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth  has 
carved  on  the  brow  of  the  everlasting  mountain  that 
great  stone  Face  of  Franconia  —  that  majestic,  wonder- 
ful Face,  peering  away  down  the  glorious  Pemigewasset 
Valley,  alike  in  sunshine  and  in  storm-blast,  day  and 
night,  century  after  century  ;  unless  it  be  that  that  sol- 
emn Profile  might  represent  the  groaning  Creation,  dis- 
cerning from  afar  and  patiently  awaiting  the  coming  Glory. 
And,  as  hundreds  of  times  I  have  gazed  on  that  stone 
Prophet  of  the  Mountain,  peering  down  the  Yalley  of  the 
Future,  I  have  secretly  said  to  him  : 

"  Watchman,  tell  iis  of  the  night, 
What  its  signs  of  promise  are !  " 

and  I  have  heard  from  those  venerable  lips  the  glorious 
answer : 

"  Traveler,  o'er  yon  mountain  height, 
See  that  glory-beaming  star." 

Yes,  weary  Creation  is  patiently  waiting  for  the  mani- 
festation, the  revelation,  the  apocalypse,  of  the  sons  of  God 
— that  is  to  say,  the  shining  exhibition  of  them  as  God's 


GENESIS   OF  THE  ANIMALS.  175 

sons.  For  man  and  animal,  wondrously  knit  together  in 
the  sacred  kinship  of  the  Sixth  Day,  are  alike  groaning 
under  the  common  Curse,  alike  hoping  under  the  common 
Promise.  All  creation  is  in  sympathy  with  the  Church  of 
the  living  God,  in  waiting  for  the  disclosure  of  the  Glory 
which  is  wrapped  up  in  the  sonship  to  the  everlasting 
Father  and  the  joint  heirship  with  Jesus  Christ,  His  eter- 
nal  Son  (Rom.  viiL  17).  Well,  then,  may  those  representa- 
tives of  Creation,  the  four  Living  Creatures  of  the  Apoca- 
lyptic Vision  of  Patnios,  join  with  the  blood-washed  throng 
in  the  chorus  of  redemption,  resting  neither  day  nor  night, 
chanting:  Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  Almighty,  Who  was, 
and  is,  and  is  to  come !  (Eev.  iv.  S).  Then,  in  that  day  of 
Apocalypse  shall  the  sad  symphony  of  Time's  dirges  give 
way  to  the  glad  symphony  of  Eternity's  paeans.  Even  now 
let  us  pray,  as  prayed  the  grand,  blind  bard  of  the  English 
Commonwealth :  "  Come  forth  out  of  Thy  royal  chambers, 
O  Prince  of  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  !  Put  on  the  visi- 
ble robes  of  Thy  imperial  Majesty  !  Take  up  the  unlim- 
ited sceptre  which  Thy  Almighty  Father  hath  bequeathed 
Thee !     For  now  the  voice  of  Thy  Bride  calleth  Thee,  and 

all    creatures    sigh    to    be     renewed  !  "  (Milton's  Prose  Works). 

Amen.     Come,  Lord  Jesus !     Come  quickly  !  (Rev.  xxii.  20). 
Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
bcj  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUEE   X. 

GENESIS     OF     MAN, 

"  And  God  said  :  Let  us  make  man  in  Our  image,  after  Our  like- 
ness :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth,  and 
over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth.  So  God 
created  man  in  His  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him  ;  male 
and  female  created  He  them." — Genesis  i.  26,  27. 

"And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
hreathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  :  and  man  became  a  liv- 
ing soul." — Genesis  ii.  17. 

In  the  Introductory  Lecture  it  was 

.   \ .      „      '  , ,     remarked   that,  ahhoiiffh  the    story  of 

Archive  Twofold.       ,       ^         .        -.tV     i    •<  -■  ,. 

the  Creative  Week  bears  the  name  of 

the  "  Mosaic  Record,"  it  is  not  necessary  to  believe  that 
Moses  himself  was  the  literal  author  of  it.  As  was,  then 
observed,  there  is  strong  reason  for  believing  that  the  Ar- 
chive had  already  long  existed  in  the  form  of  a  sacred, 
inspired  Tradition,  and  that  Moses,  accepting  it  as  Divine, 
simply  incorporated  it  into  his  Preface  to  his  Pentateuch, 
thus  making  it  a  part  of  his  own  chronicle.  A  scnitiny  of 
the  Creation  Archive,  as  given  us  in  the  first  two  chapters 
of  Genesis,  shows  us  that  it  is  manifestly  twofold  :  the 
first  a  very  ancient  document,  extending  through  the  first 
chapter  and  including  the  first  three  verses  of  the  second, 


GENESIS  OF   MAN.  177 

setting  fortli  the  process  of  Creation  under  its  general  as- 
pect, and  representing  the  Creator  by  His   general  title— 
Elohim,  or  God,  Deity  ;  the  second  account  comprising 
the  rest  of  the  second  chapter,  a  later  document,  occupied 
mainly  with  the  story  of  the  Creation  of  Man,  and  repre- 
senting the  Creator  by  His  particular,  Hebrew  title,  Jeho- 
vah Elohim,  or  Lord  God.    It  may  be  that  the  first  account 
had  come  down  from  Adam  himself,  and  that  the  second 
account  has  Moses  for  its  literal  author  ;  the  first  Archive 
being  a  Prologue,  the  second  Archive  being  the  first  chap- 
ter of  the  History  of  Mankind.     However  this  be,  enough 
that  Moses  has  incorporated  the  two  accounts  into  his  own 
stoiy,  so  that  it  is  strictly  correct  to  speak  of  them  as  the 
Mosaic  Eecord.     I  have  alluded  to  this  matter  because  the 
account  of  the  Genesis  of  Man  is  evidently  twofold :  the 
first  a  general,  the  second  a  specific.     Let  me  then  read  to 
you  the  two  Archives.     The  first  is  this  :  "  And  God  said  : 
'  Let  us  make  Man  in  Our  image,  after  Our  likeness  :  and 
let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  heavens,  and  over  tlie  cattle,  and  over  all 
the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth 
upon  the  earth.'     So  God  created  the  Man  in  His  image, 
in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him ;  male  and  female 
created  He  them.     And  God  blessed  them  ;  and  God  said 
to  them  :  '  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  fill  the  earth, 
and  subdue  it,  and  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  heavens,  and  over  every  living  thing  that 
moveth  upon  the  earth.'  .  .  .  And  it  was  so.     And  God 
saw  all  that  He  had  made,  and  behold,  it  was  very  good. 
And  there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  a  Sixth 
Day  "  (Gen.  i.  26-31).     The  other  Archive  reads  thus  :  "  Now 
there  was  yet  no  plant  of  the  field  in  the  earth,  and  no 
herb  of  the  field  had  yet  sprung  up  :  for  Jehovah  God  had 


178  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

not  yet  caused  it  to  rain  on  tlie  eartli,  and  there  was  no 
man  to  till  the  ground  :  and  there  went  up  a  mist  from  the 
earth,  and  it  watered  all  the  face  of  the  ground.  And  Je- 
hovah God  formed  the  Man  of  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  the  Man 
became  a  living  soul.  .  .  .  And  Jehovah  God  caused  a 
deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  the  Man,  and  he  slejjt :  and  He 
took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  there- 
of. And  of  the  rib  which  He  took  from  the  Man,  Jeho- 
vah God  formed  a  "Woman,  and  brought  her  to  the  Man  " 

(Gen.  ii.  5-22). 

Reserving  for  a  special  study  the 

II.  —  Panorama    ox  £  ±\.     r\  •       £  -xht  ^   j. 

.  -r,  ^  ,,        ibtory  01  the  Genesis  oi  Woman,  let  us 

01  Lraergent  Man.  •'  .  ' 

occupy  ourselves  to-day  with  the  Study 
of  the  Genesis  of  Man.  According  to  our  wont,  let  us 
first  ascend  again  the  Mount  of  Panoramic  Vision,  and 
gaze  with  the  inspired  Seer  on  the  unfolding  scene  of 
Emergent  Man.  What  though  the  Breath  of  God  is  mov- 
ing over  the  waste,  ebon  abyss,  beginning  to  resolve  Chaos 
into  Cosmos  ?  No  human  being  is  there  to  rejoice  over 
the  birth  of  Order.  "What  though  the  light  of  chemical 
activity  suffuses  the  inchoate  universe  ?  No  human  being 
is  there  to  feel  its  quickening  warmth.  What  though  the 
arching  sky  has  separated  the  mighty  mass  into  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  ?  No  human  being  is  there  to  feel  his  spirit 
broadening  and  soaring  with  the  swelling  welkin.  What 
though  the  waters  have  retreated  to  their  appointed  places, 
and  the  dry  lands  have  emerged  ?  No  human  being  is 
there  to  sail  over  the  mighty  main,  or  to  climb  the  inspir- 
ing mountain.  AVhat  though  the  fern  branches,  and  the 
grass  waves,  and  the  palm  towers,  and  the  rose  blushes, 
and  the  vine  fruits  ?  No  human  being  is  there  to  enjoy 
the  shapes  and  hues,  or  scent  the  odors,  or  taste  the  fruits. 


GENESIS  OF  MAN.  179 

Wliat  though  tlie  sun  blazes,  and  the  moon  beams,  and  the 
stars  twinkle  ?  No  human  being  is  there  to  behold  their 
glorj,  or,  watching  their  risings  and  settings,  to  take  note 
of  time.  What  though  sea,  air,  and  land  teem  with  living 
creatures  ?  ]^o  human  being  is  there  to  give  to  them 
names,  or  to  loile  over  them.  All  has  been  preparing  for 
Man  ;  all  is  now  ready  for  Man ;  but  Man  himself  is  not. 
And  now  is  heard  once  more  the  Omnific  Word  :  "  We 
will  make  Man  in  Our  image,  after  Our  likeness ;  and 
they  shall  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  bird 
of  the  heavens,  and  over  the  cattle  of  the  lands,  and  over 
all  the  earth."  And,  lo,  a  Form  like  to  that  of  the  Son  of 
God  stoops  down,  and,  taking  in  His  hand  some  of  the 
dust  of  the  soil.  He  moulds  it  into  a  figure  like  to  His  own 
Divine  SeK,  and,  placing  His  hands  against  the  new  hands, 
and  His  mouth  against  the  new  mouth,  He  breathes  into 
the  new  nostrils  His  own  life  breath  ;  and,  lo !  the  dust 
figure  becomes,  like  the  animals  around  him,  a  living  soul ; 
ay,  more  than  a  living  soul,  even  a  Man,  becoming,  in  very 
virtue  of  having  been  Divinely  inbreathed,  the  Creator's 
Inspiration  and  Image  and  Son.  Such  is  the  vision  of 
Emergent  Man.  And  now  let  us  attend  to  some  of  the 
details  of  the  majestic  picture. 

And,  first :  Man  the  Image  of  God. 
.       an    0    s   Q^^  g^.^^  .  t;  ^y^  ^jll  make  Man  in  Our 
Image. 

image,  after  Our  likeness." 

But  what  is  meant  by  the  Image 
i.-Jesus    Christ  ^^^  Likeness  of  God  ?     Without  loiter- 

the  Image  of  God.  <•      i       o  i 

ing  amid  the  subtilties  oi  the  School- 
men, let  us  take  a  shorter,  simpler,  truer  method,  even  the 
answer  expressly  given  in  Holy  Writ  itself.  Would  you 
know  what  is  meant  by  the  Image  of  God  ?  Then  gaze 
on  Jesus  the  Nazarene,  Wlio  is  the  Image  of  the  invisible 


180  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

God  (Col.  i.  15),  the  brightness  of  His  Gloiy  aud  express 
Image  of  His  Person,  or  Impress  of  His  Being  (iieb.  i.  2). 
"Without  presuming  to  define  with  theological  accuracy 
these  expressions,  without  venturing  to  discuss  their  bear- 
ings on  that  profound,  ineffable  Mystery  of  the  Christian 
Church — the  Blessed  and  Adorable  Trinity :  distinctly 
disclaiming  all  attempts  at  j^reciseness  of  theological  state- 
ment :  it  is  enough  to  say  that,  practically,  in  the  realm  of 
personal  apprehension  and  experience,  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
is  the  Discloser  of  the  Creator,  the  Revelation  of  the 
Father,  the  Representation  of  Deity,  the  Image  of  the  in- 
visible God.  And  He  becomes  this  in  and  by  the  fact  of 
His  Incarnation.  I  would  not,  especially  on  such  high 
themes,  be  wise  above  what  is  written.  It  is  but  a  con- . 
jecture,  yet  a  conjecture  seemingly  well  founded,  that  In- 
finite God  can  become  knowable  to  man  only  through  the 
intervention  of  some  medium,  or  means  of  intercommuni- 
cation. Even  earthly  things  become  knowable  to  us  only 
through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  visible  things  becom- 
ing visible  through  the  sense  of  sight,  audible  things  au- 
dible through  the  sense  of  hearing,  tangible  things  tangible 
through  the  sense  of  touch.  Let  one  be  born  without 
senses,  and  he  is  born  without  sense,  actual  or  possible. 
How  nnicli  less  then  can  the  infinite,  spiritual  God  become 
known  to  us  except  through  media  !  He  is  expressly  de- 
clared to  be  tlie  invisible  God,  dwelling  in  lidit  whicli  no 
man  can  approach  unto.  Whom  no  man  hath  seen  or  can 
see  (1  Tim.  vi.  iG).  If  ever  apprehensible,  then,  to  finite 
worlds,  He  must  become  so  through  some  kind  of  incarna- 
tion, or  revelatio'n  througli  finite  conditions.  And  all  tliis, 
be  it  observed,  irrespective  of  the  fact  of  sin.  If,  then, 
mediation  was  needed  before  the  entrance  of  evil,  how 
much  more  since  !  And  the  Incarnation  meets  the  necessitv. 


GENESIS  OF  MAN.  181 

"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only  begotten 
Son,  Who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  lie  hath  declared 
Ilim,  made  llim  known,  interpreted  Ilim,  made  exegesis 
of  Him  "  (John  i.  18).  Not  that  God  was  not  known  before. 
Prophets  and  Patriarchs  knew  Him  and  walked  with  Him. 
But  even  then  He  was  known  only  through  mediations, 
such  as  Shechinah  and  Covenant  Angel.  Even  in  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  or  God  in  articulation,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God  (John  i.  i).  If 
you  ask  me  in  what  figure  or  condition  the  Precreative 
Word  existed,  I  cannot  answer  ;  for  I  have  not  been  told. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should  know  ;  finiteness  in  some 
direction  or  another,  not  a  human  figure  or  a  definite  shape, 
is  an  essential  of  mediation.  Enough  that  I  know  that  in 
process  of  the  Divine  Revelation  the  Word,  Who  in  the  be- 
ginning was  and  was  with  God  and  was  God,  became  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld  His  Glory,  the  Glory 
as  of  an  only  begotten  from  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth  (John  i.  14).  The  God  hitherto  syllabled  and  j^artially 
and  intermittently  glimpsed  in  Covenant  Angel  and  She- 
chinah, henceforth  became  completely  and  pennanently 
visible  in  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  The  invisible  God  be- 
came visible  through  Incarnation  ;  i.  e.,  through  God's  in- 
vesting Himself  with  a  human  spirit  and  soul  and  body, 
and  so  becoming  finite  in  a  liuman  person.  For  what  was 
the  overshadowing  of  the  Yirgin  of  Nazareth  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  (Luke  i.  35)  but  the  miraculous  conception  of  a  finite, 
spiritual  nature,  to  be  taken  up,  or  incorj^orated — how,  we 
can  never  tell — into  the  Person  of  the  Divine  Son,  and  to 
be,  because  a  finite,  spiritual  nature  and  so  apprehensible, 
the  Image  of  that  invisible  One  Who  is  Spirit  'i  In  the 
Nazarene's  spiritual  afiinities  and  kinship  with  the  Eternal 
One  as  felt  and  expressed  in  human  terms — in  terms  of 


182  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tlie  Nazarene's  sense  of  right,  rectitude,  equity,  reverence, 
trust,  communion,  liarmony  with  the  unseen  and  eter- 
nal Verities — in  these  we  see  the  Image  of  Him  Whom  no 
man  hath  seen  or  can  see,  because  He  is  Spirit  (John  iv.  24). 
Again  :  a  spiritual  nature  must  needs  have  what  I  may 
venture  to  call  secular  attributes — attributes  of  sensibility, 
cognitions,  faculties  of  instrumentation,  etc.  So,  also,  in 
the  secular  attributes  of  Christ's  human  personality ;  in 
His  memory  and  reason  and  imagination  and  judgment, 
in  His  perceptions  of  beauty,  in  His  loves  and  trusts  and 
joys  and  griefs — we  have  hints  and  suggestions  and  par- 
ables of  the  character  of  Ilim  Who,  because  infinite,  must 
be  supposed  to  be  eternally  outside  the  range  of  finite 
powers  and  sensibilities.  It  is  through  these  that  we  know 
God  ;  and  so  Christ  is  the  Image  of  God.  Once  more  :  a 
human  personality,  at  least  while  in  this  world,  must  needs 
have  a  body  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  vehicle  and  instrument  of 
life.  It  is  not  only  in  and  through  the  body  that  we  live  : 
it  is  in  and  through  the  body,  e.  g.,  through  the  inlets  and 
outlets  of  the  senses,  that  moral  character  is  elicited.  Em- 
bodiment, incarnation,  was  as  essential  to  Christ's  being  the 
Image  of  God  as  was  spirituality.  He  must  not  only  be 
conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  He  must  also  be  born  into 
the  sphere  of  matter.  Thus  in  His  taking  on  Himself  a 
human  spirit  and  soul  and  body,  Jesus  Christ  became  to 
man  the  Manifestation  of  Deity.  The  unseen  God  was, 
so  to  speak,  elicited  into  ^-isibility  through  the  attritions  of 
barriers,  or  the  limits  of  a  finite  condition.  The  Incarnate 
Son,  in  and  by  the  very  fact  of  His  Incarnation,  became  a 
visible  Image  of  the  invisible  God,  because,  O  infinite 
paradox,  in  Him  dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily  (Col.  ii.  9).  In  Him  M^e  see,  as  we  could  have  no 
otherwise  seen  or  conceived,  God's   Holiness,  Rectitude, 


GENESIS  OF  MAN.  183 

Love,  Magnanimity,  Patience,  Joy,  Grief,  Truth,  Glory. 
For  aught  I  know,  this  is  the  reason  why  Holy  Scripture 
calls  Him  the  Son  of  God  ;  for  sonship  is  imageship.  In 
Christ's  own  deeds  and  words  and  character — in  the  par- 
ables and  hints  and  suggestions  of  His  own  incarnate 
career — we  do  indeed  behold  the  Image  of  the  invisible 
God,  the  Brightness  from  the  Father's  Glory,  the  express 
Image  of  His  Person.  The  last  night  He  was  on  earth  as 
the  Man  of  Sorrows,  while  He  and  the  eleven  were  still 
reclining  at  the  Paschal  Table,  Philip  said  to  Him :  "  Lord, 
show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us."  Jesus  said  to 
him  :  "  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you — have  I  spoken 
and  wrought  and  lived  before  you  all  these  months  and 
years — and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  Me,  Philip  ?  He 
that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father ;  how  is  it  then 
that  thou  sayest,  '  Show  us  the  Father  ? '  "  (John  xiv.  s-io). 
Thus  was  the  Son  of  Mary  God's  Prophet,  speaking  for 
Him,  translating  Him  into  human  apprehension  and  state- 
ment. In  a  single  Scriptural,  all-comprehending  term, 
Jesus  Christ  was  God's  Word.  And  this  just  because  He 
was  incarnated,  the  Word  made  flesh.  For  this  end  was 
He  born,  and  for  this  end  came  He  into  the  world,  that 
He  might  bear  witness  unto  the  Truth  (John  xviii.  37).  And 
the  one  Truth  of  the  innnensities  is  this :  God.  Would 
you  then  know  what  is  meant  by  the  Image  and  Likeness 
of  God  ?  Then  gaze  on  Jesus  the  Nazarene.  In  Ecce 
Homo  is  Ecce  Deus. 

And  now  we  are  prepared  for  a  sec- 
2 -Man  the  Image    ^^^  ^^.^^^j^  .  ^^  j^^^^^  qj^^..^^  -^  ^j^^  j^^^ 

of  Jesus  Christ,  c/^l  -»r  -  ^  •  i-    -r 

01  God,  SO  Man  is  the  image  oi  Jesus 
Christ.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  "  (Gen.  i.  i).  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God :  all 


184        STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

tilings  were  made  tlirougli  Hira,  and  witliout  Ilim  was  not 
anything  made  that  hath  been  made "  (John  i.  1-3).  The 
"God-Said"  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  then  the 
"  God-Word  "  of  the  first  chapter  of  John.  Knowing  all 
things  from  the  beginning,  predetermining  all  things  ere 
as  yet  there  was  Incarnation,  or  Fall,  or  Man,  or  Earth,  or 
Seraph ;  foreseeing  that  as  Incarnate  lie  wonld  add  to  His 
eternal  Godhead  a  human  spirit  and  soul  and  body,  the 
Lamb,  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  (Rev.  xiii.  8), 
makes  solemn  annunciation,  using,  as  it  would  seem,  the 
imperial  plural :  "  We  will  make  Man  in  Our  image,  after 
Our  likeness."  In  the  order  of  time,  the  Son  of  God  made 
Himself  like  to  Man ;  in  the  order  of  purpose,  the  Son  of 
God  made  Man  like  to  Himself.  It  was  an  august  illus- 
tration of  His  own  saying  when  Incarnate  :  "  The  first  shall 
be  last,  and  the  last  first "  (Matt.  xx.  16).  Do  you  ask  in  what 
respect  Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  Christ  ?  Evidently, 
I  answer,  in  eubstantially  the  same  respects  in  which  Christ 
became  the  Image  of  God.  Thus :  In  respect  to  a  spiritual 
nature :  When  Jehovah  God  had  formed  the  Man  of  dust 
of  the  ground,  He  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life.  The  language,  of  course,  is  figurative.  Nevertheless 
it  must  mean  something.  AVliat,  then,  does  this  inbreRth- 
ing  by  the  Creator  mean,  if  not  the  mysterious  communi- 
cation of  Himself — the  eternal  Air  or  Spirit — into  Man  ? 
As  Christ,  surveyed  man-wise,  was  born  of  the  Spirit  in 
Nazareth,  so  Man,  made  in  His  Image,  after  His  Likeness, 
was  born  of  the  Sj^irit  in  Eden.  Again  :  a  spiritual  nature 
necessarily  involves  personality ;  and  personality,  at  least 
finite,  as  necessarily  involves  what  I  have  called  secular 
attributes,  e.  g.,  attributes  of  sensation,  cognition,  passion, 
action,  etc.  All  these  belonged  to  Christ;  and  through 
these  He  declared  and  interpreted  the  Father,  being  in 


GENESIS  OF  MAN.  185 

very  tnitli  the  Word  of  God,  or  Deity  in  articulation.  And 
the  Word  has  existed  from  the  beginning,  being  the  God- 
Said  of  the  Creative  Week.  In  man's  potencies  of  what- 
ever kind — moral,  intellectual,  emotional,  aesthetic — what- 
ever power  or  virtue  or  grace  there  may  be — in  all  this  we 
behold  an  image  of  the  Lord  from  heaven.  Once  more : 
personality  cannot,  at  least  in  this  world,  exist  apart, from 
embodiment,  or  some  kind  of  incarnation,  which  shall  be 
to  it  for  sphere  and  vehicle  and  instrument.  Some  kind 
of  body  is  needed  which,  by  its  avenues  and  organs,  shall 
awaken,  disclose,  and  perfect  character.  And  as  Christ's 
body  vehicled  and  organed  His  Personality,  and  so  enabled 
Him  to  manifest  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  which  dwelt 
in  Him  body-wise,  so  Man's  body  was  made  in  the  image 
of  Christ's,  even  that  Body  which  in  His  eternal  fore- 
knowledge was  eternally  His.  This,  then,  was  the  Image 
in  which  Man  was  created,  the  Image  of  Christ's  human 
Personality,  or  Christ's  spirit  and  soul  and  body.  Man  is 
the  image  of  Christ  and  Christ  is  the  Image  of  God ;  that 
is  to  say :  Man  is  the  image  of  the  Image  of  God,  or  God's 
Image  as  seen  in  secondary  reflection. 

But  I  hear  an  objection.    "  All  this," 
(a.) -The   Image  ^^jj  u jg  true  of  the  unfallen 

Defaced,  not  Efifaced.    ^   ,  ,       ,     .    »  i         i        /•  n 

Adam  only ;  but  Adam  has  fallen  ;  sure- 
ly his  sinful  children  are  not  made  in  God's  Image."  Yes, 
they  are,  I  dare  reply.  It  is  this  precise  thing  that  Adam's 
children  are  still  made  in  the  Image  of  God,  which  makes 
them  more  than  animals,  even  children  of  the  Father  celes- 
tial. Centuries  after  Adam's  fall,  God,  in  renewing  to 
Noah  Adam's  charter,  forbids  murder  on  the  expressly- 
mentioned  ground  that  Man  was  made  in  the  Image  of 
God :  "  Whoso  sheddeth  Man's  blood,  by  Man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed :  for  in  the  Image  of  God  made  He  Man " 


183  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

(Gen.  ix.  6).  Other  centuiies  roll  away,  and  an  apostle  warns 
ns  against  sins  of  the  tongue  on  precisely  this  same  ground, 
that  Man  is  made  in  the  Image  of  God  :  "  With  the  tongue 
bless  we  the  Lord  and  Father,  and  with  the  tongue  curse 
we  men,  who  are  made  after  the  likeness  of  God  "  (James  iii.  9). 
True,  the  Image  of  God  has  been  terribly  marred.  Sin, 
the  corroding,  dissolving  force  that  it  is,  has  wellnigh  ob- 
literated the  Divine  lineaments  as  they  beamed  forth  in 
Eden.  When  we  look  at  the  awful  guilt  of  the  heathen 
world,  ay,  when  we  note  the  crimes  and  vices  and  ungodli- 
ness of  civilized  society  around  us,  we  feel  that  Man,  like 
Moses,  does  indeed  need  a  veil ;  but,  alas !  it  is  to  hide,  not 
his  splendor,  but  his  shame.  Nevertheless,  this  image  of 
God  in  Man,  although  so  terribly  marred,  has  not  been  en- 
tirely erased.  Fearfully  defaced,  it  has  not  been  totally 
effaced.  Deep  down  the  grades  of  our  fallen  humanity,  in 
the  very  lowest  and  guiltiest  of  our  race,  a  generous  vision 
shall  detect,  beneath  wreck  and  rubbish,  at  least  some  dim 
sense  of  right,  some  faint  idea  of  duty,  some  incipient, 
nebulous  yearning  after  better  things.  And  these  and  such 
as  these  are  fragments,  tiny  and  blurred  indeed,  neverthe- 
less real  fragments  of  the  Divine  Effigy.  And  these  and 
such  as  these  are  the  prophets  of  hope,  the  human  basis  for 
the  possibility  of  human  redemption  and  perfectation. 

And  this  leads  to  the  remark  tliat 
(  .)—    ns  a     IS-  Qjjj-jg^'g  mission,  surveyed  on  its  human 

sion  a  Restoration.  .  ■,       .  i         i  i  t-<  «» 

side,  is  to  restore  the  shattered  Effigy. 
The  Incarnation,  in  its  general  sense,  was  to  mediate  be- 
tween God  the  Infinite  and  Man  a  finite.  The  Incarna- 
tion, in  its  specific  sense,  was  to  bring  back  Man  from  his 
apostas}',  and  reinstate  him  in  God's  full  Image.  Tliis  is 
that  promised  era,  even  those  times  of  Restitution  of  all 
things,  which  God  has  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  His  holy 


GENESIS   OF  MAN.  187 

prophets  since  the  world  began  (Acts.  iii.  21).  And  this  res- 
toration of  the  blurred  Image  is  a  process,  continuing 
through  seons  or  Dispensations.  It  begins  in  this  world 
feon :  Put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  put  on  the 
new  man,  who  is  being  renewed  in  knowledge  and  righte- 
ousness and  holiness  after  the  Image  of  Him  Who  created 
him  (Eph.  iv.  22-24 ;  Col.  iii,  9, 10).  It  will  be  continued  in  the 
life  to  come,  aeon  without  end :  Our  citizenship  is  in  the 
heavens  ;  whence  also  we  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  Who  will  transfigure  the  body  of  our  humili- 
ation, that  it  may  be  conformed  to  the  body  of  His  glory 
(Phil.  iii.  20,  21).  And  this  is  the  consummation  of  Redemp- 
tion, ay,  of  eternal  Predestination.  Whom  He  doth  fore- 
know. He  also  doth  foreordain  to  be  conformed  to  the 
Image  of  His  Son,  that  He  may  be  the  first-born  among 
many  brethren  (Rom.  viii.  29).  If  God  became  Manlike  in 
Christ,  it  was  that  Man  might  become  in  Christ  God- 
like, filled  unto  all  the  fullness  of  God,  even  the  meas- 
ure of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ  (Eph.  iii.  19 ;  iv.  13), 
in  "Whom  dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily 

(Col.  ii.  9). 

Such,  then,  was  the  Origin  of  Man  as  given  us  in  the 

first  Creation  Archive.      "  God  created  the  Man  in  His 

Image :  in  the  Image  of  God  created  He  him ;  a  male  and 

a  female  created  He  them." 

And  now  let  us  ponder  briefly  the 

T      .  ■"".  Second  Archive : "  Jehovah  God  formed 

Inspiration.  •,      -%r        <•  i  r    ■,  •,         -, 

the  Man  from  dust  of  the  ground,  and 

breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  Man  was 

a  living  soul " '  (Gen.  ii.  1).    Let  us  ponder  these  clauses  a  little 

'  Compare  the  curious  tradition  of  tliat  remarkable  people — the  Karens  :  "  God  took  a 
eniall  piece  of  His  own  life,  blew  into  the  nostrils  of  His  son  and  daughter,  and  they  became 
living  beings,  and  were  really  human." 


188  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

in  detail.  And,  first,  "  Jehovah  God  formed  the  Man  from 
dust  of  the  ground."  It  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  in  that 
far-off  yore  when  the  inspired  Seer  beheld  the  vision  of  tlie 
Emergent  Man.  However  various  the  opinions  of  scien- 
tists touching  the  Mosaic  Story  of  Creation,  they  all  agree 
at  least  on  this  point :  Man's  body  is  composed  of  the  same 
chemical  elements  as  the  soil  on  which  he  treads.  Dust 
he  is :  for  out  of  dust  was  he  taken,  and  unto  dust  does  he 
return  (Gen.  iii.  19).  The  meaning  of  this  very  term,  Adam, 
is  clay,  soil,  earth  :  "  There  was  no  man  to  till  the  ground, 
no  Adam  to  till  Adamah  "  (Gen.  ii.  5).  Yes,  the  first  Man 
was  of  the  earth,  earthy.'  But,  thank  God,  Man  was  to  be 
something  more  than  an  organized  mass  of  dust.  That 
statue  of  clay  was  to  become  vital,  vehicular,  instrumental. 
And  so  we  read,  secondly :  God  "  breathed  into  his  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life,  the  life  breath."  Or,  as  Elihu,  Son  of 
Barachel,  phrases  it :  "  The  Spirit  of  God  made  me,  and 
the  Breath  of  the  Almighty  gave  me  life  "  (Job  xxxiii.  4).  The 
language,  as  on  all  such  high  themes,  is  of  course  figura- 
tive, and,  as  we  have  seen,  panoramic,  to  be  taken  chiefly 
in  way  of  hint.  But  the  figure  must  be  the  figure  of 
something.  What,  then,  is  the  truth  which  underlies  the 
figure,  and,  impregnating  it,  glorifies  it  ?  What  does  this 
inbreathing  by  the  Creator  signify,  if  not  the  communi- 
cating, in  some  way  augustly  inscrutable,  of  the  Creator 
Himself — even  the  Eternal  Breath  or  Spirit  into  Man: 
Godhead  into  Manhead :  the  Divine  Afilation  becoming, 
so  to  speak,  a  human  sufilation :  God's  expiration,  Man's 
inspiration  ?  And  now,  thirdly  :  "  Man  became  (or,  as  the 
verb  might  have  been  rendered,  perhaps  as  correctly,  was) 
a  living  soul."     Accordingly,  the  passage  affirms  three  in- 

'  IIow  intorestiiiR,  in  liffht  of  this,  the  study  of  such  words  us  humus,  homo,  human, 
humanity,  posthumous,  autochthon,  etc.  1 


GENESIS  OF   MAN.  189 

dependent,  yet  coordinate  facts.  At  the  one  extreme  we 
have  the  Body,  formed  of  dust  of  the  ground  ;  at  the  other 
extreme  we  have  the  Spirit,  inbreathed  by  the  Holy  One : 
connecting  the  two,  acting  as  the  nidus  for  them  to  dwell 
in,  holding  them,  so  to  sjDcak,  in  solution,  we  have  the 
Soul,  or  vital  and  sentient  principle  common  to  Man  and 
animal.  I  do  not,  then,  regard  the  "  living  soul "  as  a  con- 
sequent or  product  of  the  union  of  body  and  spirit :  Man 
would  have  been  a  "  living  soul "  had  he  received  from 
God  no  spirit,  or  inbreathing,  just  as  the  animals  around 
him,  and  created  on  the  same  day  with  him,  were  "  living 
souls."  No,  Man's  peculiarity,  as  distinguished  from  ani- 
mal, comes  out  in  the  second  statement  of  our  passage : 
God  "  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life."  I  lay 
no  very  special  stress  on  the  phrase  rendered  "  breath  of 
life  "  considered  by  itself,  although  I  believe  that  an  ex- 
amination of  all  the  passages  in  which  it  occurs  will  show 
that  it  is  invariably  applied  to  God  or  Man,  never  to  ani- 
mal. But  I  do  lay  special  stress  on  the  verb  rendered 
"  breathed ; "  a  mysterious  act  of  Deity,  which,  whatever 
it  may  mean,  is  never  asserted  in  connection  with  brutes. 
Man  alone  has  the  inspiration  of  Deity.  This  is  the  august 
peculiarity  which  separates  him  discretively  and  everlast- 
ingly from  the  animal  creation.  Ay,  this  Divine  inbreath- 
ing it  is  which  converts  Man's  body  into  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  (i  Cor.  vi.  19) — the  Divine  Breath,  which  makes 
Man  himself  God's  image,  God's  likeness,  God's  son.  Yes, 
Chrysostom  was  right  when  he  exclaimed  :  "  The  true 
Shechinah  is  Man." ' 

Such,  then,  is  the  Origin  of  Man  as  given  us  in  the 

>  For  more  extended  observations  on  Man's  threefold  nature,  the  author  may  be  per- 
mitted to  refer  to  his  articles  on  the  "  Scriptural  Antbropologj'"  in  the  Baptist  Quarterlt/, 
vol.  i..  pp.  170-190,  325-340,  42S-444.  It  is  but  fair,  however,  to  state  that,  while  he  still 
holds  the  outlines  of  the  theory  there  maintained,  he  would  now  modify  some  of  the  details. 


190  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Second  Arcliive.  Infinite  Deity  was  liis  Maker.  On  liis 
body  side  he  sprang  from  dust :  on  liis  soul  side  he  sprang 
Tip  with  the  animals :  on  his  spirit  side  he  sprang  from 
God.  Thus,  in  his  very  beginning,  in  the  original  make- 
up of  him,  Man  was  a  Religious  Being.  Coming  into  ex- 
istence as  God's  Inbreathing,  Man  was,  in  the  very  fact  of 
being  Divinely  inbreathed,  God's  Son  and  Image.  "Well 
then  might  Man's  first  home  be  an  Eden — type  of  Heaven, 
and  his  First  Day  God's  Seventh  Day — even  the  Creator's 
Sabbath. 

V  — Tl      P  •■     1         And  now  ponder  the  Mighty  Char- 

Oommissiun.  *^^  •  "  -^^^  ^^^  blessed  them,  and  God 

said  to  them :  '  Be  fruitful,  and  multi- 
ply, and  fill  the  earth,  and  subdue  it,  and  have  dominion 
over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  on  the  earth.' " 

It  was  Man's  original  Commission, 

it/o7cr  Nature"*  ''''  Humanity's  primal  Charter.  And  His- 
tory is  the  story  of  the  execution  of  the 
Commission,  Civilization  the  unfolding  of  the  privileges  of 
the  Charter.  "Wherever  civilized  man  has  gone,  there  he 
has  been  gaining  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  every  living  thing  that  moveth  on 
the  earth,  ay,  subduing  earth  itself.  See,  e.  g.,  how  he 
makes  the  fish  feed  him,  and  the  sheep  clothe  him,  and 
the  horse  draw  him,  and  the  ox  plough  for  him,  and  the 
fowl  of  the  air  furnish  him  with  quills  to  write  his  philos- 
ophies and  his  epics.  All  this  was  prophesied  when  Jeho- 
vah God  brought  every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  bird  of 
the  air  to  the  Man  in  Eden,  to  see  what  he  would  call 
them ;  and  the  Man  gave  names  to  them  all  (Gen.  ii.  19,  20). 
Again :  see  Man's  supremacy  over  the  face  of  Nature ;  see, 
e.  g.,  how  he  dikes  out  the  ocean,  as  in  Holland ;  and 


GENESIS  OF  MAN.  191 

opens  up  harbors,  as  at  Port  Said ;  and  digs  canals,  as  at 
Suez ;  and  explodes  submarine  reefs,  as  in  East  Kiver ; 
and  builds  roads,  as  over  St.  Gotliard ;  and  spans  rivers,  as 
the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  stretches  railways,  as  from  Atlantic 
to  Pacific ;  see  how  he  reclaims  mountain-slopes  and  heaths 
and  jungles  and  deserts  and  pestilential  swamps,  bnnging 
about  interchanges  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  and  even 
mitigating  climates,  so  that  here,  at  least,  Man  may  be  said 
to  be  the  creator  of  circumstances  rather  than  their  creature. 
Again  :  see  Man's  suj)remacy  over  the  forces  and  resources 
of  Nature;  see  how  he  subsidizes  its  mineral  substances, 
turning  its  sands  into  lenses,  its  clay  into  endless  blocks  of 
brick,  its  granite  into  stalwart  abutments,  its  iron  into 
countless  shapes  for  countless  purposes,  its  gems  into  dia- 
dems ;  see  how  he  subsidizes  its  vegetable  products,  making 
its  grains  feed  him,  its  cottons  clothe  him,  its  forests  house 
him,  its  coals  warm  him.  See  how  he  subsidizes  the 
mechanical  powers  of  Nature,  making  its  levers  lift  his 
loads,  its  wheels  and  axles  weigh  his  anchors,  its  pulleys 
raise  his  weights,  its  inclined  planes  move  his  blocks,  its 
wedges  split  his  ledges,  its  screws  propel  his  ships.  See 
how  he  subsidizes  the  Natural  Forces,  making  the  air  waft 
his  crafts,  the  water  run  his  mills,  the  heat  move  his  en- 
gines, the  electricity  bear  his  messages,  turning  the  very 
gravitation  into  a  force  of  buoyancy.  Yerily,  Thou  makest 
Man  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  Thine  hands ; 
Thou  dost  put  all  things  under  his  feet ;  sheep  and  oxen, 
all  of  them ;  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  birds  of 
the  air,  and  whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the 
seas  (Tsalm  viii.  6-9).  ^Vliat  a  magnificent  illustration  of  all 
this  was  our  o^vn  glorious  International  Exposition  of  1876  ! 
Ay,  these  and  such  as  these  are  the  majestic  foot-prints  of 
Man's  triumphal  progress  through  time.     And  these  tri- 


192  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

umplis  are  but  prophecies  of  possibilities  still  more  mag- 
nificent. Listen  to  the  vaticination  of  the  dreamer  before 
Locksley  Hall : 

"  For  I  dipped  into  the  future,  far  as  human  eye  could  see, 
Saw  the  Vision  of  the  world,  and  all  the  wonder  that  would  be; 
Saw  the  heavens  fill  with  commerce,  argosies  of  magic  sails, 
Pilots  of  the  purple  twilight,  dropping  down  with  costly  bales; 
Heard  the  heavens  fill  with  shouting,  and  there  rained  a  ghastly  dew. 
From  the  nation's  airy  navies  grappling  in  the  central  blue; 
Far  along  the  world-wide  whisper  of  the  south-wind  rushing  warm. 
With  the  standards  of  the  peoples  plunging  through  the  thunder-storm ; 
Till  the  war-drum  throbbed  no  longer,  and  the  battle-flags  were  furled. 
In  the  Parliament  of  Man,  the  Federation  of  the  world." 

— ("Locksley  IIaix.") 

But  whether  the  Laureate's  dream  of  aerial  navigation 
be  trae  or  not,  this  thing  is  certain :  Every  day  discloses 
some  new  force,  or,  at  least,  some  new  applicability  of 
force.  We  know  not  what  majestic  possibilities  are  still 
wrapped  up  in  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  in  air  and  water,  in 
heat  and  light,  in  electricity  and  magnetism.  It  may  be 
that  as  Man  has  already  subsidized  the  zephyr,  so  he  will 
3'^et  subsidize  the  hurricane  ;  as  he  has  already  utilized  the 
descending  brook,  so  he  will  yet  utilize  the  rising  tide ;  as 
he  has  already  made  the  lightning  liis  servitor,  so  he  will 
yet  manipulate  the  very  ether  itself.  Such  is  Humanity's 
Magna  Charta.  All  is  in  right  of  Eden's  majestic  Com- 
mission :  "  Fill  the  earth  and  subdue  it." 

2— Yet  Man  but  "^^^  "^  wliose  name  shall  Man  ad- 
Viccroy.  minister  the  mighty  Domain  ?     In  his 

own  name,  or  in  Another's  ?  In  An- 
other's, most  surely,  even  in  the  name  of  Him  in  "Whose 
Image  he  is  made.  The  Son  of  God  alone  is  King,  and 
Man  is  but  His  Viceroy  ;  viceroy  because  His  Inspiration 


GENESIS   OF   MAN.  193 

and  Image.  Man  holds  tlie  estate  of  eartli  in  fief ;  his  only 
right  the  right  of  usufruct.  Talents  he  has ;  but  they  are 
intrusted  talents  (Matt.  xxv.  i4-30).  A  Vineyard  he  tills ; 
but  it  is  a  leased  Vineyard  (Luke  xx.  9-16).  O  my  country- 
men, beware  of  sacrificing  to  your  own  nets  and  burning 
incense  to  your  own  seines  (llab.  i.  16).  Self-worship  here 
is  self-murder.  For  where  are  the  master  nations  of  an- 
tiquity, the  Babel-builders  of  Babylonia,  the  pyramid- 
rearers  of  Egypt,  the  mariners  of  Phoenicia,  the  philos- 
ophers of  Greece,  the  statesmen  of  Rome  ?  How  their 
story  illustrates  and  confirms  the  Lord's  own  solemn  teach- 
ing :  A  Vineyard  appropriated  is  a  Vineyard  forfeited  ! 
(Matt.  xxi.  33-43).  No,  the  Only  secret  of  our  permanence  as 
a  nation  is  the  sense  of  Trusteeship,  administering  Nature, 
not  as  monarch,  but  as  the  Image  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
so  His  Viceroy. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  the  Genesis  of  Man. 

VI.— Concluding  Looking  back  on  our  course  of 
Observations.  thouglit,  I  ask  you  : 

1.  —  Jesus  Christ         pi^st  of  all,  to  note  again  Whose  is 

the  Archetypal  Man.     ^^^^   j^^^^^  j^  ^^^.^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^ j  . 

it  is  the  Image  of  Him  Whose  goings  had  been  from  of  old, 
from  the  days  of  eternity  (Micah  v.  i),  but  Who  became 
flesh  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea.  Yes,  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Original,  Archet^'pal  Man.  From  Him  humanity  was 
modeled :  Jesus  the  Form,  mankind  the  figure.  The 
Ancient  of  Days  was  the  Man  of  men,  the  univereal  Man, 
blending  in  Himself  all  races,  sexes,  ages,  temperaments. 
Holy  Scripture  does  not  call  Him  "A  Son  of  Man;" 
neither  does  it  call  Him  "  The  Son  of  Men ; "  but  it  calls 
Him  "  The  Son  of  Man,"  The  Son  of  Mankind,  The  Son 
of  Human  Nature.  As  such,  Jesus  Christ  was  Humanity 
in  epitome  and  embryonic  outline,  the  Primal,  Archetypal 
9 


194  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Man,  And  now  we  may  understand,  at  least  in  some 
slight  measure,  snch  wonderful  expressions  as  tlie  follow- 
ing :  "  The  First-born  among  many  brothers  "  (Rom.  viii.  29) ; 
"  The  First-begotten  before  all  creation  "  (Col.  i.  15) ;  "  The 
Beginning  of  the  creation  of  God  "  (Rev.  jii.  14). 

„     ,,    ,     ,  Secondly :  Man's  Unutterable  Worth. 

2. — Alans    Incom-         ,  "^  _         , 

parable  Dignity.         His  starting-point  is  the  Eternal,  In- 
finite One. 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting; 
The  Soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  Star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 

And  Cometh  from  afar: 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 

From  God,  Who  is  our  home : 
Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy !  " 

— (Wordsworth.) 

Ay,  here  is  the  discretive  index  which  separates  Man 
essentially  and  everlastingly  from  animals ;  it  is  his  capaci- 
ty for  Inspiration  and  Imageship.  Here  is  the  tnie  and 
only  safeguard  against  materialism,  the  one  stout  cable 
that  chains  us  in  glorious  thrall  to  the  eternal,  shining 
Throne.  May  the  same  Son  of  God,  Who  breathed  into 
the  First  Man  the  Breath  of  Life,  thus  making  him  in  Ilis 
own  Image,  after  His  own  likeness,  breathe  upon  us  all 
to-day,  saying :  "  Eeccive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the  Divine 
Breath !  (John  xx.  22).  So  shall  we  be  restored  in  the  Image 
of  Him  Who  created  us.  A  genuine  coin,  stamped  in  effi- 
gy of  Kaiser  or  President,  is  worth  what  it  represents. 
Man,  stamped  in  the  effigy  of  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord 
of  lords,  is  worth,  let  me  dare  say  it,  what  he  represents, 
even  Deity.    Little  lower  than  the  angels,  little  lower  than 


GENESIS   OF  MAN.  195 

Eloliim,  did  Eloliim  make  him  (Psalm  viii.  5).  All  tliis  ex- 
plains why  this  earth,  cosmicallj  so  tiny,  morally  is  so 
vast.  Jesus  Christ  came  not  to  save  the  worthless.  He 
came  to  save  Divine  Imageshij) :  that  is  to  say,  all  Godlike 
potentialities.  He  came  to  save  Divine  Imageship  itself. 
I  never  read  the  closing  words  of  St.  Luke's  Genealogy  of 
our  Lord  without  a  thrill  of  awe  in  remembrance  of  the 
sublimity  of  my  parentage.  Listen  :  "  Who  was  the  son  of 
Enoch,  who  was  the  son  of  Seth,  who  was  the  son  of  Adam, 
who  was  the  son  of  God "  (Luke  iii.  38).  Contrast  that  Pa- 
ternity with  the  ancestry  allowed  us  by  the  evolutionists : ' 

"  That  was,  to  this, 
Hyperion  to  a  satyr." — ("Hamlet,"  i.  2.) 

„     T         , .    ,,  Thirdly :  we  see  wherein  the  Unity 

3. — Imageship  the       p     ■,       -n  ^  •  m 

Die  of  Race  Unity.  ^  the  Kace  truly  consists.  The  ques- 
tion whether  the  Origin  of  Man  was 
single  or  plural  is,  as  you  well  know,  one  of  the  questions 
now  engaging  the  attention  of  Ethnologists.  For  myself, 
I  believe  that  the  race,  as  Holy  Scripture  seems  to  teach, 
has  descended  from  a  single  Pair.  But  suppose  that  it 
should  hereafter  be  proved  that  there  were  a  hundred 
original  Adams  and  Eves,  the  discovery  would  not  affect 
the  time  Unity  of  the  Pace.  The  unity  is  not  so  much 
genealogical  as  moral ;  not  in  blood,  but  in  Lnageship ; 
not  in  the  first  Adam,  but  in  the  Second.  As  there  is  but 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through  Whom  are  all  things,  and 
we  through  Him  (i  Cor.  viii.  6) ;  so  there  is  but  one  Die, 
one  Mintage,  one  Humanity ;  every  man  the  kinsman  of 

'  The  reader  may  be  surprised  that  I  have  not  discussed  the  Origin  of  Man  in  tho 
light  of  the  Evolution  Hypothesis.  My  reasons  for  not  doing  so  are  two :  Kii-st,  I  have 
already  discussed  that  Hypothesis  in  Lectures  vii.  and  ix. ;  secondly,  I  did  not  wish  to 
alloy  the  majesty  of  the  Creation  Archive  with  the  dross  of  speculation.  For  a  masterly 
monograph  on  Anthropologj-,  see  President  M.  B.  Anderson's  article  on  Man,  in  Johnson's 
"  Cyclopajdia." 


196  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

every  other ;  Mankind  brotliered  in  tlie  one  monld  of  tlic 
Creative  Word.  Yes,  profound  is  that  word,  "  Mankind." 
It  means  two  things :  first,  men  are  kind-ed,  kinned,  in  the 
creative,  common  Die  of  the  Sixth  Day ;  and  secondly,  all 
life,  whether  vegetal,  animal,  or  human,  yields  after  its  kind ; 
and,  therefore,  Man,  created  in  the  Image  of  God,  yields 
men  after  his  kind ;  i.  e.,  Man-kind.  May  it  ever  be  ours  to 
recognize  lovingly  every  human  being,  whether  Caucasian  or 
Mongolian,  as  a  member  of  Mankind,  and  so  our  Kinsman  ! 
When  all  men  do  this,  Mankind  will  not  only  be  the  same 
as  Humanity ;  Mankind  will  also  have  Humanity. 

Fourthly :  we  see  the  secret  of  Man's 

Bai~of"TTutph!'''  ^^^"^S.T™"P^^=  i^  ^«  Iniageship. 
"  We  will  make  Man  in  Our  Imasre, 
after  Om*  Likeness :  and  they  shall  rule  over  the  fish  of 
the  seas,  and  over  the  bird  of  the  heavens,  and  over  the 
cattle  of  the  lands,  and  over  all  the  earth."  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Image  of  God ;  as  such,  He  is  the  Lord  of  all.  Man- 
kind is  Christ's  Image  lost.  The  Church  is  Christ's  Image 
restored :  as  such,  she,  like  her  Image,  is  Lord  of  all.  All 
things  are  hers ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or 
the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come  :  all  arc  hers ;  and  she  is  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is 
God's  (1  Cor.  iii.  21-23).  Evcn  HOW,  this  uuivcrse  of  God, 
these  atoms  and  skies  and  seas  and  lands  and  plants  and 
stars  and  beasts  and  men,  are  pouring  forth  their  treasures 
at  the  feet  of  the  Bride  and  Queen-Consort  of  the  King 
of  kings.  The  Church  of  the  living  God  is  the  real  power 
administering  behind  Earth's  thrones  and  Nature's  royal- 
ties. The  vision  of  the  Exile  of  Patmos  is  being  fulfilled  : 
The  earth  is  helping  the  Woman  (Rev.  xii.  ir,),  Christ's  Lady 
Elect.  For  her  the  sun  rises  and  the  rains  fall ;  the  winds 
waft  and  the  waves  bear ;  the  soils  fruit  and  the  mines 


GENESIS  OF   MAN.  I97 

yield  ;  chemical  agencies  loose  and  gravitation  binds  ;  civ- 
ilization, science,  commerce,  manufactures,  agriculture, 
arts,  wealth,  brawn,  brain — all  I^ature,  from  Alcyone  to 
atom,  are  harnessed  as  swift-footed  steeds  to  her  chariot, 
bearing  her  on  from  conquering  to  conquer,  until  Righte- 
ousness finds  her  Paradise  in  the  new  earth  domed  by  the 
new  heavens  (2  Peter  iii.  13).  Go  forth,  then,  my  country- 
men, and  all  ye  sons  of  Adam,  go  forth  in  right  of  Eden's 
Image  Charter,  and  subdue  the  earth.  Yea,  go  on  with 
your  gigantic  enterprises,  capturing  and  marshaling  the 
forces  of  ligature,  changing  her  very  face,  leveling  her 
mountains,  raising  her  valleys,  sj)anning  her  continents 
with  your  railways,  mingling  her  oceans  through  your 
canals :  go  on ;  for  in  so  doing  you  are  really  obeying  a 
power  mightier  than  your  own,  and  are  preparing  in  the 
wilderness  the  way  of  the  Lord,  and  casting  up  in  the  des- 
ert a  highway  for  our  returning  God  (Is.  xl.  5).  Ay,  that 
will  be  the  true  Triumphal  Entry  when,  amid  the  kneel- 
ing ranks  of  the  nations  waving  their  palm-branches,  and 
shouting  hosannas  to  the  Son  of  David  (Matt.  xxi.  i-io),  the 
Jerusalem  of  a  restored  earth  shall  lift  up  her  gates,  even 
her  everlasting  doors,  and  let  the  King  of  Glory  in  (Psalm 
xxiv.  7-10).  Oh,  friend,  would  you  be  a  sharer  in  that  com- 
ing entry  and  Triumph  ?  Then  be  joined,  even  this  mo- 
ment, by  a  personal,  living  union  with  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Image  of  God,  and  therefore  the  Heir  of  all  the  ages  and 
all  the  worlds  (Hob.  i.  3).  And  then,  when  He  does  re- 
turn, as  return  most  surely  He  will,  to  make  His  true  Tri- 
umphal Entry,  before  thee  also  shall  the  animal  creation 
kneel,  the  stars  dip,  the  forests  stoop,  the  mountains  bow, 
the  skies  bend,  the  molecules  crouch,  the  atoms  file,  all 
])owers  of  Nature  salaam.  And  they  will  bow  before  thee 
because  on  thy  brow  sparkles  the  twofold  crown,  even  the 


198  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

diadem  and  the  mitre,  of  one  who,  as  created  in  the  Image 

and  recreated  in  the  Likeness  of  God's  Incarnate  Son,  is 

anointed  King  and  Priest  to  the  Father  Eternal  (Rev.  i.  6). 

Lastly :  would  you  know  how  to  be 

5. -The    Coming  restored  in  the  Image  of  God?     Then 

Satisfaction.  ^ 

gaze  on  the  character  of  Him  Who  is 
the  Brightness  from  His  Father's  glory,  and  the  express 
Image  of  His  Person.  Enter  into  the  fellowship  of  that 
Character.  Be  everlastingly  closeted  with  Him  in  the  kin- 
ships and  intimacies  of  a  perfect  friendship.  Lovingly 
study  every  feature  of  that  beaming  Image.  Beholding 
thus,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  even  that  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  liord  which  is  given 
back  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,. Who  is  the  Image  of  God 
(2  Cor.  iv.  6) — gazing  thus  on  the  mirror  of  Christ's  Face,  and 
discerning  in  it  the  glory  of  Jehovah,  thou  slialt  be  changed 
into  the  same  Image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the 
Lord,  the  Spirit  (2  Cor.  iii.  18).  Thus  gazing,  and  thus 
changed,  it  matters  little  what  our  earthly  fate  be,  whether 
renown  or  obscurity,  wealth  or  poverty,  long  life  or  early 
death.  Enough  that  on  the  Resurrection  Morn  we  shall 
perceive  that  as  we  had  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly, 
even  of  the  first  man  Adam,  so  henceforth  we  shall  bear 
the  Image  of  the  Heavenly,  even  of  the  Second  Man,  the 
Lord  from  heaven  (i  Cor.  xv.  47-49).  God  forbid  that  on  that 
Bosurrection  Morn  any  one  of  us  shall  bear  an  Image 
which  He  shall  despise  (P^ialm  ixxiii.  20).  God  grant  that  on 
that  Besurrection  Mom  all  of  us  shall  bear  the  Imaore  of 
His  Eternal  Son.  Ay,  satisfied  shall  we  be  when  we 
awake,  O  Image  of  God,  with  Tliy  Likeness  (Psalm  xvii.  m). 
Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  witliout  end.     Amen. 


LECTUKE  XL 


GENESIS     OF     EDEN. 

"  And  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden ;  and 
there  he  put  the  man  whom  He  had  formed.  And  out  of  the  ground 
the  Lord  God  made  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight 
and  good  for  food  ;  the  tree  of  life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  Garden, 
and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  And  a  river  went 
out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden ;  and  from  thence  it  was  parted  and 
became  into  four  heads.  The  name  of  the  first  is  Pison :  that  is  it 
which  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold  ; 
and  the  gold  of  tliat  land  is  good  ;  there  is  bdellium  and  the  onyx 
stone.  And  the  name  of  the  second  river  is  Gihon  :  the  same  is  it 
that  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia.  And  the  name  of  the 
third  river  is  Hiddekel :  that  is  it  which  goeth  toward  the  east  of 
Assyria.  And  the  fourth  river  is  Euphrates.  And  the  Lord  God  took 
the  man  and  put  him  in  tlie  garden  of  Eden,  to  dress  it  and  to  keep 
it.  And  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  saying :  '  Of  every  tree 
of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat;  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die.'  And  the  Lord  God  said  :  '  It 
is  not  good  that  the  Man  should  be  alone :  I  will  make  him  an  help 
meet  for  him.''  And  out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every 
beast  of  the  field  and  every  fowl  of  the  air ;  and  brought  tliem  unto 
Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them  ;  and  whatsoever  Adam  called 
every  livmg  creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof.  And  Adam  gave 
names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of 
the  field  ;  but  for  Adam  there  was  not  found  an  help  meet  for  him." 
— Genesis  ii.  8-20. 


200  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

„,      ^  "  Eden  !  "     What  a  tlirillinff  name ! 

I. —  The   Topo-  TT        J  T  •       1      •..  1 

graphical  Problem.  ^^^^  delicioiisly  it  awakens  memories 
of  all  that  is  most  exquisite  in  scenery, 
most  sacred  in  purity,  most  bKssful  in  joy  !  And  yet  where 
was  Eden  ?  ]^o  question  in  geography,  secular  or  sacred, 
has  been  debated  oftener,  or  with  results  more  various. 
Men  have  sought  for  Eden  in  Armenia,  in  Babylonia,  along 
the  Caspian  Sea,  in  Bactria,  in  Syria,  in  Arabia,  in  India 
— in  short,  all  along  between  the  Ganges  in  Asia  and  the 
Nile  in  Africa.  And  to-day  the  battle  is  as  undecided  as 
ever.  True,  the  Creation  Archive  gives  us  two  landmarks 
which  we  can  identify  :  the  river  Hiddekel,  or  Tigris,  and 
the  river  Euphrates.  But  the  trouble  is  to  identify  the 
other  two  rivers  :  the  river  Pison,  which,  we  are  told, 
traversed  the  whole  land  of  Ilavilah,  wherein  were  bdel- 
lium, and  gold,  and  onyx  —  and  the  river  Gihon,  wdiich 
traversed  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia,  or  Cush.  All  that 
we  can  determine  at  present  is  this  :  Eden  lay  to  the  east 
of  the  venerable  witness  of  Creation's  Panorama,  some- 
where in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates. 
And  history  strikingly  confirms  the  chronicle  of  the  hoary 
witness.  Those  confessedly  competent  to  discuss  such  ques- 
tions agree  that  the  cradle  of  mankind  is  to  be  looked  for 
somewhere  in  the  country  of  the  Euphrates.  Civilization 
has  generally,  with  comparatively  unimjiortant  exceptions, 
moved  from  east  to  west.  It  was  sober  prose  as  w^ell  as 
poetic  measure,  when  the  Erin-born  Bishop  Berkeley,  in 
his  verses  on  the  "  Prospect  of  Planting  Arts  and  Learn- 
ing in  America,"  sang  : 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

The  oft-quoted  line  is  truer  to-day  than  ever.    Not  only 
is  Europe  coming  westward  toward  us,  we  ourselves  arc 


GENESIS   OF   EDEN.  201 

going  westward  toward  Asia.  "VVlio  knows  but  tliat  we, 
the  latest  born  of  the  nations,  with  the  Continental  rail- 
ways and  Pacilic  steamships  in  our  grasp,  are  God's  chosen 
instniments  in  carrying  the  Glad  Tidings  ever  and  ever 
westward,  till,  having  crossed  China,  we  reach  again  the 
Cradle  of  Humanity,  and  reinaugurate  the  lost  Paradise  on 
the  very  spot  where  our  inspired  Seer  caught  glimpse  of 
the  Tree  of  Life  ?  The  truth,  however,  is,  the  exact  site 
of  Eden  will  probably  never  be  discovered — at  least,  till 
the  day  when  the  voice  of  Him  Who  was  Avont  to  walk  in 
the  Garden  in  the  evening  breeze  (Gen.  iii.  8)  is  again  heard 
on  earth.  Not  only  was  the  ground  cursed  for  man's  sake 
the  day  he  fell ;  since  then  has  occurred  the  Deluge  ;  and 
the  man  does  not  live  who  can  say  how  much  the  convul- 
sions attending  that  awful  catastrophe  may  have  altered 
the  whole  surface  and  river  system  of  the  region  in  which 
Eden  was  situated.  Probably,  then,  it  is  as  hopeless  to 
search  for  the  exact  site  of  Eden  as  it  would  be  were  the 
Cherubim  still  wavins;  their  flamino;  sword  before  the  Tree 

of  Life  (Gen.  iii.  24). 

Moreover:  alt]  lough  firmly  believing 

of  Emerging  Eden.  ^^'""^  *^^^^^  ^^""^  ^^^^  "^  ^^^^  f'^^*-^^  ^g^S 
an  actual  Eden,  wherein  the  Creator  in- 
stalled the  Original  Man,  yet  I  also  as  firmly  believe  that 
the  Eden  of  our  passage,  like  the  other  scenes  of  the  Crea- 
tive Week,  was  not  so  much  a  literal  fact  as  a  Divinely 
vouchsafed  vision.  Eecalling,  now,  that  this  account  of 
Eden  belongs  to  the  second  of  the  two  Creation  Archives, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  Moses  has  incorporated  into  his 
annals  and  made  part  of  his  OAm  recital,  let  us  again  ascend 
the  Mount  of  Panoramic  Vision,  and,  in  company  with  the 
inspired  beholder  of  the  second  panorama,  gaze  on  the  un- 
rolling scene  of  the  Emerging  Eden.     It  is  still  early  in 


202  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  Creative  Week,  corresponding  to  the  Third  Day  of  the 
first  Archive.  So  far  as  we  can  see,  no  plant  of  the  field 
is  yet  in  the  earth,  no  herb  of  the  field  has  yet  sprung  up. 
And  no  wonder.  Jehovah  God  has  not  yet  caused  it  to 
rain  on  the  earth.  But  the  hours  fly  apace.  And  now  we 
see  going  up  from  the  earth  a  mist,  and  it  waters  all  the 
face  of  the  ground,  preparing  it  for  vegetation.  Alas ! 
there  is  no  Man  as  yet  to  till  the  ground  and  develop  its 
resources.  The  hours  still  fly  apace.  And  now  a  Form 
like  to  that  of  the  Son  of  God  stoops  down,  and,  taking  in 
His  hand  some  of  the  dust  of  the  soil,  and  moulding  it  into 
a  figure  like  to  His  own  Divine  Self,  He  breathes  into  the 
new  nostrils  His  own  life-breath  ;  and,  lo  !  the  dust-figure 
becomes,  in  very  virtue  of  having  been  Divinely  inbreathed, 
the  Creator's  Inspiration,  and  so  His  Image  and  Son  (Gen. 
ii.  5-7).  A  Being  of  origin  so  Divine,  we  cannot  but  think, 
will  surely  have  a  home  worthy  of  him.  Nor  are  we  mis- 
taken. The  same  God  who  has  formed  the  Man,  plants  on 
the  east  of  our  Mount  of  Yision,  in  the  fair  territory  of 
Eden  or  Delight,  a  Garden,  or  pleasure-park,  of  inconceiv- 
able loveliness.  There  He  causes  to  spring  up  every  tree 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food.  There,  in 
the  midst  of  the  Garden,  He  plants  two  wondrous  trees  : 
the  Tree  of  Life  and  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good 
and  Evil.  There  He  causes  a  majestic  River  to  flow,  which, 
on  issuing  out  of  the  Garden,  parts  into  four  great  streams, 
Pison,  and  Gihon,  and  Tigris,  and  Euphrates.  There  He 
causes  gold  and  onyx  to  sparkle,  and  awaken  the  sense  of 
preciousness.  There,  in  Eden's  glorious  Garden,  He  puts 
the  Man  He  has  inbreathed,  and  thereby  made  His  Image, 
to  till  the  Garden,  and  to  keep  it.  There  He  announces 
His  mysterious  Edicts  of  Liberty  and  Prohibition :  "  Of 
every  tree  of  the  Garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  203 

the  Ti-ee  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  thou  shalt  not 
eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  sure- 
ly die."  There  lie  summons  the  animals  before  the  In- 
spiration and  Image  of  God,  and  there  they  receive  from 
him  their  names.  And  there,  ere  this  Sixth,  concluding 
Day  closes,  the  Creator  will  give  to  the  Man  a  Second 
SeK,  without  whom  even  Eden  itself  would  be  a  failure 
(Gen.  ii.  21-22).  Such  is  the  panorama  of  the  Emergent 
Paradise. 

And  now  let  us  attend  to  some  of 
III. — Lessons   of   ,i      ,  »  ,, 

,,    ,^.  .  the  lessons  oi  the  story, 

the  Vision.  / 

And,  first :  the  Birth  of  Industry ; 
1.— The  Birth  of  Jehovah  God  took  the  Man  He  had 
"  ^''^^^'  formed,  and  put  him  in  the  Garden  of 

Eden,  to  till  it,  and  to  keep  it. 

For,  beautiful  and  perfect  as  Eden 
Nomai  Condition!"'  ^^s,  spotless  and  exalted  as  Adam  him- 
self was,  he  must  work.  And  this  be- 
cause he  was  like  his  Heavenly  Father  and  his  Heavenly 
Father's  Christ :  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I 
work  "  (John  V.  17).  And,  first :  man  must  work  for  the 
soil's  sake.  Generous  as  Mother  Nature  is,  she  is  gen- 
erous as  a  rule  only  to  those  who  industriously  and  skill- 
fully avail  themselves  of  her  resources.  Her  capacities 
are  latent  as  well  as  vast,  and  need  the  quickening,  unfold- 
ing, marshaling  power  of  a  tireless  and  skillful  labor.  A 
very  laboratory  she  is,  whence  the  husbandman — that  true 
chemist  for  society — obtains  by  elaboration  those  indispen- 
sable products  of  the  soil  which  are  more  truly  treasures 
than  the  diamonds  of  Golconda.  The  first  of  all  arts  was 
agriculture,  and  the  first  of  all  laborers  a  sinless  man. 
Again :  Man  is  to  work  not  only  for  the  soil's  sake  ;  he  is 
to  work  also  for  his  own  sake.     He,  too,  has  latent  capaci- 


204  STUDIES   IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

ties,  and  as  vast  as  latent,  which  can  be  brought  into  light 
and  usefulness  only  as  they  are  subjected  to  the  quicken- 
ing, unfolding  power  of  a  wisely-directed  exercise.  I^To 
man  knows  what  reservoirs  of  force  are  within  him  till  he 
sets  himself  to  work  in  the  way  his  Maker  appoints  for 
him.  He  who  does  not  use  his  faculties  is  as  though  he 
had  none.  And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  indolence  and 
barbarism  go  hand  in  hand.  It  is  not  possible  that  an  idle 
nation  should  be  at  the  same  time  a  civilized.  Herein  is 
the  secret  of  the  difference  of  prospect  for  the  Negro  or 
the  Chinaman,  and  the  North  American  Indian  ;  the  former 
are  capable  of  civilization,  because,  as  a  rule,  they  are  will- 
ing to  work ;  the  latter  incapable,  because,  as  a  rule,  unwill- 
ing. The  man,  the  family,  the  community,  the  nation, 
that  will  not  work,  cannot  long  hold  their  own  against  the 
stride  of  Industry.  It  is  a  law  of  Nature  and  of  the  God 
of  Nature.  God  has  said  to  Man  :  "  Subdue  the  earth  " 
(Gen.  i.  28).  And  the  man  or  the  nation  that  refuses  to  obey 
must  perish.  We  owe  the  Indians,  with  tingling  shame  be 
it  confessed,  vast  debts  of  reparation  for  untold  injustice 
and  cruelties.  All  honor  to  Government  for  having  un- 
dertaken the  policy  of  the  Peace  Commission.  Neverthe- 
less, until  the  Indians  as  a  body  are  willing  to  work,  their 
case  as  a  body  is  hopeless.  No  legislation,  no  Peace  Com- 
missions, no  largesses,  can  save  them.  They  must  go  to 
the  wall,  not  because  they  are  Indians,  but  because  they  are 
sluggards.  The  busy  beehive  that  is  large  enough  for  its 
myriad  workers  is  too  small  for  a  single  drone.  AVe  see 
here  also  the  key  to  that  great  problem,  the  cure  of  Pau- 
perism :  it  is  Work.  Regard  with  distrust  every  able- 
bodied  man  who  is  unwilling  to  work — i.  e.,  when  he  has 
an  opportunity.  It  is  a  mistaken  kindness,  founded  nei- 
ther in  reason  nor  in  morality,  which  feeds  the  healthy 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  205 

mendicant  wlio  would  rather  beg  than  dig.  I  know  that 
it  seems  hard  to  turn  away  from  the  tattered  wretch  who, 
like  your  dog,  piteously  supplicates  for  the  cnimbs  that 
fall  from  your  table.  But  it  is  precisely  because  this  tat- 
tered wretch  is  not  a  dog,  but  a  man,  and  can  work,  that 
makes  it  sinful  to  pamper  him  in  his  wicked  laziness.  Em- 
ployment for  all  is  a  more  generous  bounty  to  the  suffering 
poor  than  a  thousand  soup-breakfasts  or  a  thousand  asylums. 
Ail  honor  to  those  business  men  and  firms  and  corporations 
who,  notwithstanding  the  present  paralysis  of  trade,  are 
still  carrying  on  their  entei'prises,  in  spite  of  receiving  no 
profits,  and  even  incumng  losses,  sustained  by  the  noble 
consciousness  that  in  so  doing  they  are  making  employment 
in  advance  of  returns,  and  therefore  helping  to  buttress 
crumbling  society.  AVhen  will  legislators,  prompted  though 
they  may  have  been  by  the  purest  philanthropy  and  guided 
by  the  wisest  earthly  statesmanship,  cease  substituting  hu- 
man enactments  in  the  shape  of  Poor  Laws  for  the  Divine 
arrangement  that  maintenance  is  the  natural  product  of  a 
properly  encouraged  and  rewarded  industry  ?  "  We  have 
commanded  you,"  says  an  Apostle,  "  that  if  any  one  will 
not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat "  (2  Thess.  iii.  10) ;  and  a  Great- 
er than  an  Apostle  has  said :  "  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire  "  (Luke  X.  7).  Let  these  two  principles  be  carried  out, 
and  the  problem  of  Political  Economy  is  solved.  Once 
more  :  Man  is  to  work  not  only  for  the  soil's  sake  and  his 
own  sake  ;  he  is  also  to  work  for  God's  sake.  Not  only  is  he 
to  "  dress  "  or  till  the  Garden,  and  so  develop  its  resources ; 
he  is  also  to  "  keep  "  the  Garden,  and  so  hold  it  in  trust  for 
its  real  Owner.  Thus  Labor  and  Stewardsliip,  Vigilance 
and  Responsibility,  have  their  birth  in  Eden.  AVork — i.  e., 
all  true  Work — means  Kesponsibility.  And  it  is  the  sense 
of  Accountability  which  gives  to  Work  its  worth  and  its 


206  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

glory.  Herein  lies  the  true  Dignity  of  Labor.  This  phrase, 
so  frequent  on  the  lijDS  of  demagogues  and  on  the  pages  of 
pamphleteers,  they  do  not  grasp  in  the  majesty  of  its  im- 
port. They  understand  it  as  simply  meaning  that  labor  is 
honorable  because  it  contributes  to  the  material  and  social 
prosperity  of  a  people  ;  whereas  the  tnie  Dignity  of  Labor 
consists,  not  in  the  mere  accumulation  of  wealth,  nor  yet  in 
the  amelioration  of  earthly  ills,  but  in  the  homageful  and 
joyous  returning  of  all  the  products  of  labor,  physical  and 
intellectual,  to  Him  Whose  is  the  earth  and  the  fullness 
thereof  (Psalm  xxiv.  1).  And  since  this  is  the  duty  of  all,  I  see 
no  reason  for  the  distinctions  which  so  many  make  between 
different  kinds  of  labor,  as  though  one  kind  were  more 
honorable  than  another.  I  beheve  that  the  devout  fisher- 
men off  the  coast  of  Labrador,  whose  sanctuary  is  his  little 
smack,  whose  lamps  are  the  stars  of  night,  whose  music 
is  the  choir  of  wind  and  wave,  pui-sues  a  calling  as  honor- 
able in  the  sight  of  Him  Who  seeth  in  secret  as  does  the 
preacher  whose  holy  eloquence  stirs  to  their  lowest  depths 
the  hearts  of  worshiping  multitudes.  No ;  it  is  not  the 
kind  of  employment  itself,  but  the  sense  of  responsibility 
accompanying  it,  which  gives  to  Labor  its  celestial  dignity. 
As  good  George  Herbert  sings : 

"  A  servant  with  this  clause 
Makes  drudgery  divine : 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  Thy  laws 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine." 

(6.)— Pursue  your         Since,  thcn.  Labor  is   God's  Ordi- 

?sm^  ^'^^  ^''*''"'  ^^^^^   ^^^  ^^^^'   pursue   your   calling, 
whatever  it  be,  with  diligence  and  cheer- 
fulness.    If  God  have  called  you,  as  He  called  Adam,  to 
till  the  ground,  let  your  weedless  field  give  evidence  that 
Industry  has  holdcn  the  plough  and  the  hoe  in  her  hands. 


GENESIS  OF  EDEK  207 

If  He  have  called  you  to  ply  the  instruments  of  the  artisan, 
let  your  shop  be  musical  the  livelong  day  with  the  clicking 
of  your  tools.  If  He  have  called  you  to  the  pursuit  of 
trade,  let  your  well-arranged  commodities  and  punctual  ful- 
fillments testify  that  you  are  not  slothful  in  business 
(Rom.  xii.  11).  If  He  have  called  you  to  the  quest  of  knowl- 
edge, let  your  well-thumbed  books  attest  that  Diligence  has 
reigned  in  your  study.  If  He  have  called  you  to  the  wife- 
ly duties  of  the  matron,  look  well  to  the  ways  of  thy  house- 
hold, and  eat  not  the  bread  of  idleness  (Prov.  xxxi.  27).  Take 
care  lest  thy  Garden  degenerate  into  the  sluggard's  field, 
grown  up  with  nettles,  covered  with  brambles,  breached 
with  broken  walls.  Poverty  prowling  around  thy  dwelling, 
thy  Wants  leaping  upon  thee  as  armed  men  (Prov.  xxiv.  30-34). 
In  brief  :  whatever  be  the  occupation  to  which  the  Provi- 
dence of  God  has  called  thee,  pursue  it  with  enthusiasm, 
doing  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to 
God  the  Father  through  Him  (Col.  iii.  17). 

This,  then,  is  the  lesson  under  the  present  head  of  dis- 
course :  Industry  is  man's  normal  condition.  His  Maker 
imposed  on  liim  the  duty  of  labor  while  yet  he  was  sinless, 
fresh  from  the  Divine  inbreathing.  Thus  does  the  first 
sentence  in  the  History  of  Mankind  record  the  Divine  In- 
auguration of  the  Reign  of  Human  Labor. 

Secondly  :     The     Birth     of     Lan- 

2.-The    Birth   of      ^  .    ,,  rj^^^   ^^^  ^^^^   ^^    ^jj 

Language.  o      o  o 

cattle  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air  and  to 
every  beast  of  the  field." 

Were  I  asked  what  I  thought  was 
(a.)  -Wonderful-  ^^^  ^^^^^  wonderful  faculty  of  man,  I 
ness  of  Language.  ,       ,,  mi        i>        li.         £    t 

should  answer :  The  faculty  ot  Lan- 
guage. For,  consider  for  a  moment  what  a  word  is.  A 
M'ord  consists  of  two  elements,  which  not  only  have  noth- 


308  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

ing  in  common,  but  are  diametrically  opposed.  Suppose 
it  is  a  spoken  or  audible  word ;  as  such,  it  is  but  a  sound — 
an  aeriaL  vibration  striking  tympanum  and  brain.  Suppose 
it  is  a  written  or  visible  word ;  as  such,  it  is  but  a  shape  on 
a  piece  of  paper.  Yet  in  either  case  it  is  also  a  casketed, 
infigured  idea.  A  word  is  an  embodied  thought  or  feeling. 
The  same  air  that  stirs  a  leaf  incarnates  and  conveys  to  the 
percipient  mind  an  immaterial  idea.  Language  marries 
Thought  and  Matter,  or  rather  Thought  and  Thought  in 
the  sphere  of  Matter.  A  word  may  incarnate  the  vastest 
conceptions,  as,  e.  g.,  an  astronomical  fact ;  or  the  subtilest 
conceptions,  as,  e.  g.,  a  biological  hypothesis.  Again: 
Words  conserve  the  immaterial  past,  turning  it  into  an  im- 
mortal heirloom  ;  a  word  carries  us  back  to  Washington,  to 
Shakespeare,  to  Mohammed,  to  Cicero,  to  Plato,  to  Abra- 
ham, to  Adam.  Words  are  the  Manes  of  past  centuries. 
You  think  that  the  phonograph  is  a  wonderful  thing,  and 
BO  it  is  ;  but  it  does  not  compare  in  wonderf  ulness  with  the 
most  careless,  insignificant  word  which  it  echoes  and  pre- 
serves. Even  the  childish  prattle  of  the  nursery  is  more 
wonderful  than  the  most  surprising  transformation  in  chem- 
istry ;  it  turns  vibrations  of  material,  unconscious  air  into 
immaterial,  intelligible,  influencing  ideas.  Yes,  words  are 
the  most  wonderful  of  things. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Origin  of 
(b.)  —  The    First  Lj^noruaore  is  such  a  f ascinatine;  problem. 

Words  Nouns  o      o  ^  o  i 

AVas  it  an  invention?  So  some  have 
taught.  Was  it  the  issue  of  a  convention  ?  So  some  have 
taught.  Was  it  an  imitation  of  the  sounds  of  Nature  ?  So 
some  have  taught.  Was  it  a  direct  gift  from  heaven  ?  So 
some  have  taught.  Most  erudite  men  have  pondered  the 
problem  ;  and  yet  all  speculation  here  is  quite  afloat.  And 
so  we  fall  back   on  the   childlike,  pictorial  language  of 


GENESIS  OF   EDEN.  209 

Time's  most  hoary  Archive :  "  Jehovah  God  formed  out 
of  the  soil  every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  fowl  of  the 
heavens  :  and  He  brought  them  to  the  Man  to  see  what  he 
would  call  them  :  and  whatever  the  Man  should  call  every 
living  being,  that  should  be  the  name  thereof;  and  the 
Man  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  heav- 
ens, and  to  every  beast  of  the  field."  It  was  Man's  first 
recorded  act.  Observe :  it  was  an  act  of  perception,  dis- 
crimination, description.  The  animals  were  arrayed  before 
him  ;  and  animals  suggest  all  the  phenomena  of  life.  And 
the  vision  of  moving  life  stirred  up  within  him  the  latent 
capacity  of  speech.  In  brief,  it  was  the  origin  of  Human- 
ity's vocabulary.  As  such,  it  is  a  profoundly  philosophical 
account.  For  nouns,  i.  e.,  names,  are  the  rudiments  of 
language,  the  very  A  B  C's  of  speech.  Such  is  the  Theory 
of  the  Genesis  of  Language  according  to  Moses.  Can  your 
Max  Miillers  and  Wedgwoods  and  Whitneys  give  a  more 
philosophical  theory  ? 

Before  dismissing  this  point,  I  must 
(e.)-Our  Words  ^^^  ^  ^^^  ^^^.^g  touching  the  awful 
our  Judges.  grandeur  of  the  Gift  of  Language.     Its 

tremendous  power  is  simply  inconceivable.  Not  only  is  it 
the  instrument  of  thought,  reacting  on  the  mind  of  him 
who  speaks,  giving  to  his  thoughts  solidity,  order,  clear- 
ness, energy;  it  is  also  the  grand  instrument  of  human 
edification,  or  society  building.  The  best  comment  on  this 
point  is  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians.  Language  it  is  which  makes  human 
society  possible.  Language  is  the  bridge  between  man  and 
man — the  circulating  medium  of  society,  the  wondrous 
power  which  converts  human  units  into  the  Human  Unity 
—men  into  Man.  And  so  Language  is  the  grand  edificator 
of  the  race.     Listen  to  some  proverbs :  "  A  well  of  life  is 


210  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  moutli  of  tlie  rigliteous"  (Prov.  x.  ii);  "  A  wliolesome 
tongue  is  a  tree  of  life  "  (Prov.  xv.  4) ;  "  Words  of  kindness 
are  as  the  honeycomb — sweetness  to  the  soul,  and  a  heahng 
to  the  bones  "  (Prov.  xvi.  24) ;  "  Apples  of  gold  in  framework 
of  silver  is  a  word  spoken  in  its  season  "  (Prov.  xxv.  ii).  But, 
alas !  death  as  well  as  hf e  is  in  the  power  of  the  tongue. 
Listen,  then,  to  another  proverb :  "As  a  madman  that 
hurleth  firebrands,  arrows,  and  death,  so  is  a  man  that  de- 
ceiveth  his  neighbor,  and  saith :  '  Am  I  not  in  sport  ? ' " 
(Prov.  xxvi.  18, 19).  But  the  most  burning  description  of  the 
terrific  power  of  the  tongue  is  given  us  by  the  Apostle 
James  :  "  Behold,  how  great  a  forest  a  little  fire  kindleth  ! 
And  the  tongue  is  a  fire,  a  world  of  iniquity.  The  tongue 
is  that  among  our  members  which  defileth  the  whole  body, 
and  setteth  on  fire  the  course  of  Nature — the  wheel  of 
Creation — and  is  itself  set  on  fire  by  hell.  For  every  kind 
of  beasts,  and  of  birds,  and  of  creeping  things,  and  of 
things  in  the  sea,  is  tamable,  and  hath  been  tamed  by  man- 
kind :  but  the  tongue  no  man  can  tame ;  it  is  a  restless 
mischief,  full  of  deadly  poison  "  (James  iii.  2-10).  Oil,  what 
untold  misery  and  anguish  the  tongue  has  brought  into  the 
world ;  e.  g.,  the  tongue  of  the  tale-bearer,  taking  up  a  re- 
proach against  his  neighbor,  and  giving  it  wings  ;  the 
tongue  of  the  slanderer,  blasting  a  fair  name,  and  crushing 
glorious  powers ;  the  tongue  of  the  scandal-monger,  filling 
a  continent  and  world  with  noisomeness  and  pestilential 
stench  ;  the  tongue  of  the  insinuator,  undermining  success, 
and  murdering  character ;  the  tongue  of  the  gossiper,  car- 
rying into  a  household  tears  and  anguish  and  death.  Yer- 
ily,  the  tongue  is  an  untamable  mischief,  full  of  deadly 
poison,  a  world  of  iniquity,  itself  set  on  fire  by  Gehenna. 
And  not  only  is  the  power  of  words  tremendous,  their 
power  is  also  immortal.     Words  are  not  the  evanescent 


GENESIS   OF   EDEN.  211 

sounds  "we  sometimes  fancy  them  to  be.  For  what  is  a 
word  ?  A  spoken  word  is  a  series  of  sounds,  so  arranged 
as  to  embody  an  idea.  And  what  is  a  sound  ?  A  sound, 
to  answer  roughly,  is  a  disturbance  of  the  air,  so  that  certain 
vibrations,  or  waves,  reach  the  mind  through  the  ear  and 
brain.  Now  it  is  one  of  the  solemn  teachings  of  modern 
science  that  no  atom  of  matter  can  undergo  any  change 
whatever  without  affecting  each  adjacent  atom;  nor  can 
these  adjacent  atoms  be  affected  without  affecting,  in  turn, 
every  atom  adjacent  to  each  of  them ;  and  so  on  till  the 
original  impulse,  or  change,  started  by  the  first  atom,  is 
propagated  through  immensity,  so  that  the  whole  material 
Creation  is  in  a  different  state  from  what  it  would  have 
been  had  not  the  disturbance  of  that  first  atom  taken  place. 
Nor  is  this  all :  inasmuch  as  these  atoms,  thus  disturbed 
throughout  the  material  universe,  keep  acting  and  reacting 
on  each  other  perpetually,  it  is  evident  that  the  effects 
of  the  slightest  atomic  change  are  not  only  propagated 
throughout  all  Creation,  but  are  propagated  everlastingly. 
Thus  the  slightest  word  vibrating  in  the  air,  though  it  be 
but  a  whispered  interjection,  sets  in  operation  a  series  of 
changes  which  undulate  to  the  very  outskirts  of  Creation, 
rising  and  falling  like  an  everlasting  tide.  Milton  utters 
but  scientific  truth  when  he  speaks  of 

"Airy  tongues,  that  syllable  men's  names 
On  sands  and  shores  and  desert  wildernesses." 

— ("  CoMtJS.") 

Thus  the  whole  material  universe,  from  tiniest  atom  at 
earth's  centre  to  farthest  orb  in  limitless  space,  is  a  mighty 
Whispering  Gallery,  in  which  the  Infinite  One  is  everlast- 
ingly hearing  every  word,  every  whisper,  breathed  by 
every  human  being,  from  the  day  Adam  pronounced  his 
first  word  to  the  day  when  time  shall  be  no  more.    If,  then, 


212  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  scarcely  audible  rustle  of  an  unconscious  aspen-leaf  sets 
in  inexorable  motion  atom  after  atom — from  leaf  to  tree, 
from  tree  to  earth,  from  earth  to  star,  till  the  whole  mate- 
rial Creation  responds  in  agitation — think  you  that  any 
word,  however  "idle,"  spoken  by  conscious,  responsible 
Man,  will  ever  die  away  ?  Oh,  no !  Every  word  you  and 
I  have  spoken  has  already  taken  the  witness-stand  before 
the  Judgment  Throne,  to  testify  for  us  or  against  us. 
Words  are  immortal. 

"  I  shot  an  arrow  into  the  air, 
It  fell  to  earth,  I  know  not  where ; 
For,  so  swiftly  it  flew,  the  sight 
Could  not  follow  it  in  its  flight. 

"  I  breathed  a  song  into  the  air, 
It  fell  to  earth,  I  know  not  where ; 
For  who  has  sight  so  keen  and  strong, 
That  it  can  follow  the  flight  of  song? 

"  Long,  long  afterward,  in  an  oak 
I  found  the  arrow  still  unbroke  ; 
And  the  song,  from  beginning  to  end, 
I  found  again  in  the  heart  of  a  friend." 

— (Longfellow.) 

Such  is  the  awful  grandeur  of  the  Gift  of  Speech. 
Words  make  earth  a  heaven  or  a  helL  I  wonder  not  that 
when  the  wondrous  Nazarene  loosed  the  tongue-strings  of 
the  Mute  of  Decapolis  He  sighed  (Mark  vii.  32-35).  I  wonder 
not  that  the  Nazarene  Himself  said  :  "  I  say  unto  you  that, 
for  every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall  give 
account  thereof  in  the  Day  of  Judgment :  for  by  thy  words 
thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  con- 
denmed  "  (Matt.  xii.  36,  37).  For  words  are  in  an  eminent 
sense  revealers  of  character.  Out  of  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  the  mouth  speaketh  :  the  good  man,  out  of  the  good 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  213 

treasure  of  liis  heart,  bringetli  forth  good  things  :  the  bad 
man,  out  of  the  bad  treasure,  bringeth  forth  bad  things 
(Matt.  xii.  34, 35).  Speech  is  the  exhaLation  of  the  heart.  Thus 
words  are  the  representatives  of  character,  translating  char- 
acter into  hinguage,  which  he  who  runs  may  read.  In 
fact,  this  very  word  "character"  etymologically  means 
what  is  marked,  engraved,  lettered.  Thus  Orlando  to 
Pwosalind  in  the  Forest  of  Arden  : 

*'  These  trees  shall  be  my  books, 
And  in  their  barks  my  thoughts  I'll  character; 
That  every  eye,  which  in  this  forest  looks, 
Shall  see  thy  virtue  witnessed  everywhere." 

—("As  You  Like  It,"  iii.  2.) 

A  man's  character  is  the  inscription  which  his  habits 
have  engraved  on  him.  And  his  words  translate  that  in- 
scription. His  words  characterize  him,  i.  e.,  they  give  his 
characteristics ;  and  this  is  but  another  way  of  saying  they 
reveal  his  character.  And  so  it  is  that  our  speech  be- 
trayeth  us.  And  therefore  our  words  will  be  our  judges 
on  the  great  day:  By  thy  words  thou  wilt  be  justified,  and 
by  thy  words  thou  wilt  be  condemned.  Thank  God,  Jesus 
Christ  is  Himself  the  true,  eternal  language.  He  Himself 
is  the  AYord  of  C^od.  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God  (John  i.  i). 
And  just  because  He  was  and  is  the  Word  of  God— God  in 
utterance,  in  articulation,  in  exhibition — He  was  and  is  the 
Truth  :  and  therefore  by  His  words  the  world  and  the  uni- 
verse is,  year  by  year,  century  by  century,  seon  by  seon, 
justifying  Him,  the  Word  of  God,  more  and  more.  And 
so  it  comes  to  pass  that  a  Christly  life  is  also  man's  true 
language.  O  friend,  let  thy  words  be  like  Christ's,  and 
thou  too  shalt  be  justified.  What  though  thou  art  un- 
versed in  the  school  of  earth's  oratory  ?    Enough  that  thou 


214  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

speakest  the  language  of  Christ's  character ;  for  thus  thou 
speakest  correctly,  according  to  the  eternal  Grammar :  ay, 
even  eloquently,  according  to  the  eternal  Khetoric.  Heaven 
grant  that  when  you  and  I  shall  stand  in  the  Judgment 
Hall  of  a  Greater  than  Pilate,  some  friend  of  the  Judge 
shall  say  to  each  of  us  :  "  Thou  too  art  a  Galilean  ;  for  thy 
speech  bewrayeth  thee  "  (Matt.  xxvi.  73). 

3.-The  Birth  of         Thirdly :  The  Birth  of  Immortality : 

Immortality.  "  Jeliovah  God  planted  in  the  midst  of 

the  Garden  the  Tree  of  Life." 
(  1  _  s'n-  "fi  "^^  *^^  thoughtful  observer,  perhaps, 

of  Trees.   °  there  is  no  more  profound  object  in 

Nature  than  a  Tree.  Its  graceful  figure, 
its  wavy  outlines,  its  emerald  hue,  its  variety  of  branches 
and  twigs  and  leaves — illustrating  diversity  in  unity — its 
tinted  and  fragrant  blossoms,  its  luscious  fruit,  its  exhibi- 
tion of  many  of  the  wonderful  phenomena  of  human  life, 
such  as  birth,  growth,  respiration,  absorption,  circulation, 
sleep,  sexuality,  decay,  death,  reproduction :  these  are  some 
of  the  particulars  which  make  a  Tree  the  living  parable  of 
man  and  of  society,  and,  as  such,  perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting object  in  the  natural  world.  JS^o  wonder,  then,  that 
among  all  nations  and  in  all  ages  trees  have  had  a  peculiar 
fascination,  and  even  sacredness  for  the  devoutly  inclined. 
"Witness  the  Groves  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Symbol-tree  of 
the  Ass}Tian  Sculptures,  the  Dryads  of  Greece,  the  Druids 
of  Britain,  the  Igdrasil  of  the  Noi-semen.'     We  need  not 

>  "  I  like,  too,  that,  representation  they  have  of  the  Tree  Ipdrasil.  All  Life  is  figrured 
by  them  as  o  Tree.  Iqrdrasil.  the  Ash-tree  of  Existence,  has  its  roots  deep  down  in  the 
Kingdom  of  llela  or  Death ;  its  trunk  reaches  up  heaven-hijrh,  spreads  its  bouphs  over 
the  whole  universe  :  it  is  the  Tree  of  Existence.  At  the  foot  of  it,  in  the  Death-KinKdom, 
eit  Three  Kornaa,  Fates— the  Past,  Present,  Future— watering  its  roots  from  tlie  Sacred 
Well.  Itsboufihs,  with  their  buddings  and  disleafings— events,  thinps  suffered,  tlilnps  done, 
catastrophes— stretch  through  all  lands  and  times.  Is  not  every  leaf  of  it  a  biography, 
every  fibre  there  an  act  or  word  f    Its  boughs  are  Histories  of  Nations.    The  rustle  of  it  is 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  215 

be  surprised,  then,  that  on  going  back  to  Nature's  Eden 
we  learn  that  Paradise,  rich  in  every  element  of  beauty, 
was  especially  rich  in  trees.  Jehovah  God  caused  to  spring 
up  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  every  tree  that  is  j)leasant  to  the 
sight  and  good  for  food.  But  amid  all  this  variety  of 
trees  two  stood  forth  in  memorable  conspicuousness,  their 
very  names  having  come  dewn  to  us  through  the  oblivion 
of  millenniums :  one  was  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the  midst  of 
the  Garden;  the  other  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good 
and  Evil. 

(b  ^— The  Tree  of         '^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^®  ponder  the  Tree  of 
Life.  Life.     "What  kind  of  life  did  that  Tree 

represent  ?  Why  was  it  called  the  Tree 
of  Life  ?  If  I  conceive  it  rightly,  it  was  called  the  Tree  of 
Life,  because  it  was  the  symbol  of  a  bestowed  Immortality. 
Observe  precisely  the  statement  here  made :  the  statement 
is  not  that  Man  is  not  immortal ;  the  statement  is  that  Man 
is  not  naturally,  inherently,  constitutionally,  in  the  original 
make-up  of  his  being,  immortal.  Observe  again  :  I  am  not 
speaking  of  the  evidences  of  Man's  natural  immortality  as 
indicated  by  reason,  or  intuition,  or  the  general  sense  of 
mankind.  I  am  speaking  of  the  doctrine  of  immortality 
as  indicated  in  the  Archive  of  Eden.  And  yet — for  I 
would  be  candid — I  must  add  that  not  a  single  passage  of 
Holy  Writ,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  teaches,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  the  doctrine  of  Man's  natural  immortality. 

the  noise  of  Human  Existence,  onward  from  of  old.  It  ^ows  there,  the  breath  of  Human 
Passion  rustling  throujrh  it;  or  storm-tossed,  the  storm-wind  howling  through  it  like  the 
voice  of  all  the  gods.  It  is  Igdrasil,  the  Tree  of  Existence.  It  is  the  past  the  present,  and 
the  future  :  what  was  done,  what  is  doing,  what  will  be  done:  'the  intinite  conjugation  of 
the  verb  To  do.'  Considering  how  human  things  circulate,  each  inextricibly  in  communion 
with  all — how  the  word  I  speak  to  you  to-day  is  borrowed,  not  from  Ulfila  the  Meso-Goth 
only,  but  from  all  men  since  the  First  Man  began  to  speak — I  find  no  similitude  so  true  as 
this  of  a  Tree.  Beautiful — altogether  beautiful  and  great!  The  ^Machine  of  the  Uni- 
verse'—alas,  do  but  think  of  that  in  contrast." — ("'Hekoes  and  Hero-Woksuip,"  Lect- 
ure I.) 


216  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

On  the  other  hand,  Holy  Writ  emphatically  declares  that 
God  only  hath  immortality  (i  Tim.  vi.  16) :  that  is  to  say : 
God  alone  is  naturally,  inherently,  in  His  own  essence  and 
nature,  immortal.  He  alone  is  the  I  Am — having  this  as 
His  name  forever.  His  memorial  to  all  generations  (Ex.  iii. 
13-15).  If,  then,  Man  is  immortal,  it  is  because  immortality 
has  been  bestowed  on  him.  He  is  immortal,  not  because 
he  was  created  so,  but  because  he  has  become  so,  deriving 
his  deathlessness  from  Him  Who  alone  hath  immortality. 
And  of  this  fact  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the  midst  of  the  Gar- 
den seems  to  have  been  the  appointed  symbol  and  pledge. 
That  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Tree  of  Life  is  evident 
from  the  closing  words  of  the  Archive  of  the  Fall :  "  Jeho- 
vah God  said :  '  Behold,  the  Man  hath  become  as  one  of 
Us,  to  know  good  and  evil ;  and  now,  lest  he  stretch  forth 
his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  eat,  and 
live  forever : '  therefore  Jehovah  God  drove  the  Man  forth 
from  Eden,  and  stationed  on  the  East  of  the  Garden  the 
Cherubim,  and  the  Flaming  Sword  which  turned  every 
way,  to  guard  the  way  to  the  Tree  of  Life  "  (Gen.  iii.  22-24). 
If  Man  is  inherently  immortal,  what  need  was  there  of  any 
Tree  of  Life  at  all  ^  This  much,  then,  seems  to  be  clear : 
Immortality  was  somehow  parabolically  conditioned  on  the 
eating  of  this  mysterious  Tree,  and  the  Immortality  was 
for  the  entire  Man — spirit  and  soul  and  body. 

Fourthly  :  The  Birth  of  Probation : 

4.— The  Birth   of    ,,  ,^ »  "^  ,  ^      1        ^       , 

Probation  ^^   every  tree  of   the  Garden  thou 

mayest  freely  eat :  but  of  the  Tree  of 
Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for 
in  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die." 
By  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil  I  sujDpose  is  meant 
that  sorrowful  knowledge  of  them  which  comes  through 
personally  experiencing  the  loss  of  the  one  and  the  access 


GENESIS   OF  EDEN.  217 

of  the  other.  And  this  experimental  knowledge  of  Good 
and  Evil  comes  ordinarily  through  the  sense  of  Prohibi- 
tion. In  otlier  words,  and  those,  too,  of  Holy  "Writ :  "  Sin 
is  the  transgressing  of  the  Law  "  (i  John  Hi.  4) ;  that  is  to  say  : 
Sin  is  a  crossing  of  tlie  limits  or  boundary-line,  laid  down 
for  us  by  the  Creator  Who  made  us,  and  Who,  having  made 
us,  has  the  right  to  appoint  our  limits.  Here  is  the  mean- 
ing of  Eden's  Forbidden  Tree :  it  parabolically  sets  forth 
the  fact  of  Moral  Probation.  And  we  may  bless  God  that 
there  was  and  still  is  such  a  Tree.  For  no  one  knows,  or 
can  know,  himself  till  he  has  been  tested.  Ordeal  is  neces- 
sary to  the  proof  of  character — to  character  itself.  What 
though  Adam,  when  installed  in  Eden,  was  fresh  from  his 
Maker's  hand  and  radiant  with  His  Image  ?  He  needed  a 
Forbidden  Tree  in  order  that  he  might  not  only  awake  to 
the  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  so  of  morality,  but  also 
that  he  might  awake  to  the  sense  of  his  power  of  choice 
between  right  and  wrong,  obedience  and  disobedience. 
And  so  the  Forbidden  Tree  tested  him,  alas !  too  well. 
Nevertheless,  the  test  was  intended  to  be,  and  but  for  his 
own  fault  would  have  been,  a  genuine  kindness.  For  the 
sense  of  obedience,  not  less  than  the  obedience  itself,  is 
essential  to  moral  joy.  Thus  a  specific  prohibition  gave  to 
Adam  the  opportunity  of  knowing  whether  he  was  obedi- 
ent or  not.  Had  he  obeyed  the  prohibition,  that  very 
sense  of  obedience  would  have  been  to  him  the  source  of  a 
genuine  bliss.  Ah,  friend,  Adam  was  not  the  only  man 
who  has  had  this  test  of  a  Forbidden  Tree.  All  human 
life — oh,  that  we  more  thoroughly  understood  it  and  be- 
lieved it ! — is  a  Probation,  a  Probing.  In  our  moral  con- 
stitution itself,  in  the  very  make-up  of  our  moral  stnicture, 
each  of  us  necessarily  has  in  himself  a  Forbidden  Tree. 
In  fact,  Eden  itself  would  not  be  an  Eden  unless  it  had 
10 


218  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

siicli  a  Tree.  God  grant  that  we  may  endure  the  test 
better  than  did  our  first  Father !  God  grant  that  we  may 
endure  it  as  triumphantly  as  did  the  second  Adam ! 

Fifthly:    The   Eden   of   the   Soul. 

5. — The    Eden   of    tt"       x  i  i     •  i^  i         ^i 

^,    „    ,  X  or  to  every  Jiuman  bemg;,  not  less  than 

the  Soul.  "^  t)' 

to  Adam,  God  has  given  a  Garden  to 
till  and  to  keep  :  it  is  the  Garden  within  him.  Alas !  this 
Garden  of  the  Soul  is  no  longer  an  Eden.  An  enemy 
hath  come  and  sown  tares  (Matt.  xiii.  25).  Instead  of  the  fir- 
tree  has  come  up  the  thorn,  and  instead  of  the  myrtle-tree 
has  come  up  the  brier  {is.  iv.  13).  Nevertheless,  the  capacity 
of  Paradise  still  lies  latent  within  us  all.  Like  seeds  which 
liave  for  ages  lain  buried  beneath  the  soil  of  our  jjrimeval 
forests,  there  lie  deep  down  in  the  subsoil  of  our  moral 
natures  the  germs  of  giant  spirit  powers  and  experiences. 
Fallen  as  we  are,  we  are  capable  of  being  redeemed,  re- 
instated in  the  range  of  conscious  sonship  to  the  everlasting 
Father.  In  fact,  this  capacity  for  redemption  is,  on  its 
human  side,  the  basis  of  the  possibility  of  Christ's  Salva- 
tion. The  Son  of  God  came  not  to  crush,  but  to  save ;  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  restore ;  not  to  annihilate,  but  to  trans- 
figure. And  when  we  let  Him  have  His  way  in  our 
hearts  ;  when  we  let  Him  drive  the  ploughshare  of  His 
Spirit's  conviction,  uprooting  tares  and  thorns  and  all  bale- 
ful weeds ;  when  we  let  Him  sow  the  good  seed  of  the 
kingdom,  which  is  the  Word  of  God  ;  when  we  let  Him 
quicken  it  with  the  waraith  of  His  breath,  and  water  it 
with  the  dews  of  His  grace,  and  hue  it  with  the  sunshine 
of  His  beauty :  then  does  Paradise  Lost  become  Paradise 
Found  ;  then  is  brought  to  pass— oh,  how  gloriously ! — 
the  saying  of  the  Poet-Prophet :  "  The  wilderness  and  the 
solitary  place  shall  be  glad,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose  "  (Is.  xxxv.  i).     Ay,  Jehovah  will  make 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  219 

thy  wilderness  like  Eden,  and  thy  desert  like  the  Garden 
of  the  Lord  (Is.  li.  3).  Meantime,  the  Lord  of  Eden,  in  re- 
claiming it,  uses  agents.  And  His  agent  is  the  soul  itself. 
Man  is  both  soil  and  seed,  both  Garden  and  Gardener. 
Restore  thou,  then,  thy  Eden.  Break  up  the  fallow  ground 
of  thy  heart  (Jer.  W.  3).  Gather  out  the  stones  of  insensi- 
bility. "Weed  out  the  tares  of  worldliness,  the  thorns  of 
selfishness,  the  briers  of  self-indulgence.  Prune  off  the 
fruitless,  dead  branches  of  a  professional  morality.  Put  up 
the  fence  of  self-restraint.  Open  the  soil  to  thy  Father's 
breath  and  light  and  warmth.  Let  His  grace  distill  down 
into  the  very  depths  of  thy  being,  quickening  thy  dead 
powers,  unfolding  thy  latent,  majestic  possibilities,  devel- 
oping all  heroic  virtues  and  saintly  graces,  fnictifying  them 
into  the  heavenly  cornucopia,  even  those  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  which  are  love,  peace,  joy,  long-suffering,  kindness, 
goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  temperance  (Gal.  v.  22,  23). 
Cultivate  thy  soil  with  the  hoe  and  harrow  of  self-sacrifice. 
Fertilize  it  with  the  truth  of  God,  and  meditation  thereon. 
Water  it  with  the  dews  of  prayer.  Support  the  weaklier 
virtues  with  the  trellis  of  a  strong  purpose  stayed  on  God, 
and  a  heavenward  aspiration,  even  the  lattice  of  the  princely 
sisterhood.  Faith,  Hope,  Love  (i  Cor.  xiii.  13).  Guard  against 
all  inroads  of  thorn  and  blight  and  worm  and  poacher. 
Arrange  and  adorn  with  the  parterres  and  walks  and  arbors 
and  founts  of  a  well-ordered  life  and  godly  conversation. 
And,  finally,  keep  the  whole  in  faithful,  loving  guardian- 
ship for  Him  Whose  tenants  and  fiefs  ye  are.  Ay,  this  is 
the  dignity  of  your  calling,  this  the  grandeur  of  your  mis- 
sion into  the  world,  this  the  majesty  of  3'our  vocation  as 
God's  Inspiration  and  Image.  What  though  earth  has 
been  cursed,  and  Nature's  Paradise  lost?  Each  one  of 
you  may,  by  the  grace  of  God,  have  an  Eden  within  you 


220  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

as  much  nobler  than  Adam's  as  spirit  is  nobler  than  mat- 
ter. Keep,  then,  that  which  has  been  committed  to  tlij 
trust ;  and  then  in  the  day  when  the  Lord  of  the  Garden 
shall  take  account  of  His  Gardeners,  thou  shalt  find  that 
the  park  thou  hast  tilled  and  guarded  is  indeed  the  Para- 
dise of  thy  God.  So  shall  the  King  desire  thy  beauty.  He 
shall  come  into  thy  soul  as  into  a  Garden  inclosed ;  thy 
plants  shall  be  to  Him  a  park  of  pomegranates,  with  all 
most  precious  fruits,  nard  and  crocus,  sweet  cane  and  cin- 
namon, myrrh  and  aloes,  with  all  trees  of  Lebanon,  and 
richest  spices.  Even  now,  O  JSTorth  Wind,  awake !  Come, 
O  South !  Breathe  upon  Thy  Garden,  that  its  spices  may 
send  forth  their  fragrance.  So  shall  my  Beloved  come 
into  His  Garden,  and  eat  His  pleasant  fruits  (Psalm  xl v.  ii ; 

Cant.  iv.  12-16). 

_  And  so  I  come  to  speak,  lastly,  of 

6.— The  Heavenly   ^,  .  ,  i     f.         -n.        T 

jjjjgjj  the  commg  and   everlasting  Paradise. 

For  the  Eden  that  has  been  was  but  a 
t)^e  and  humble  hint  of  the  Eden  that  is  to  be.  The  true 
Golden  Age,  of  which  the  bards  are  ever  singing,  is  not  to 
be  looked  for  in  the  Past,  but  in  the  Future,  In  fact,  it  is 
this  conception  of  a  Paradise  which  has  been,  and  is  not, 
and  may  yet  be,  which  is  the  foundation  and  inspiration  of 
all  genuine  poetry,  alike  heathen  and  Christian,  whether 
the  bard  be  a  Homer  or  a  Dante,  a  Yirgil  or  a  Milton,  a 
Tennyson  or  a  Bonar.  This  Eestoration  of  Paradise  be- 
longs to  those  Times  of  Eestitution  of  all  things  wdiich 
God  hath  promised  by  the  mouth  of  His  holy  propliets 
since  the  world  began  (Acts  iii.  21).  Yet  this  Eestitution 
sliall  be  something  more  than  a  simple  restoration  of  the 
lost  Paradise.  The  Eden  that  is  to  be  shall  be  as  much 
grander  than  the  Eden  that  has  been  as  Christ,  the  Image 
of  the  invisible  God,  is  grander  than  Adam,  the  image 


GENESIS  OF  EDEN.  221 

of  Christ.  Listen :  If  by  tlie  trespass  of  tlie  one,  death 
reigned  through  the  one,  much  more  shall  they  who  re- 
ceive the  abundance  of  the  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righte- 
ousness reign  in  life  through  the  One,  Jesus  Christ  (Rom.  v. 
12-21).  God  grant  that  all  of  us  may  wash  our  robes  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  so  have  right  to  the  Tree  of  Life, 
and  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city  (Rev.  xxii.  14) ! 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  Avas  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTURE  XIL 


GENESIS     OF     WOMAN 


"  And  the  Lord  God  said  :  '  It  is  not  good  that  the  man  shou]d 
be  alone  :  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him.'  And  out  of  the 
ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl 
of  the  air,  and  brought  them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call 
them ;  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that  was 
the  name  thereof.  And  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the 
fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field  ;  but  for  Adam  there 
was  not  found  an  help  meet  for  him.  And  the  Lord  God  caused  a 
deep  sleep  to  fall  upoa  Adam,  and  he  slept ;  and  lie  took  one  of  his 
ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof ;  and  the  rib,  which  the 
Lord  God  hath  taken  from  man,  made  He  a  woman,  and  brought 
her  unto  the  man.  And  Adam  said  :  '  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones, 
and  flesh  of  my  flesh  ;  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was 
taken  out  of  Man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his 
mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh.' 
And  they  were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  were  not 
ashamed." — Genesis  ii.  18-25. 

FresT  of  all,  let  us,  as  is  our  wont, 

e  Ix     -D  attend  to  the  Explanation  of  the  Pas- 

of  the  Passage.  ^ 

sage.     For  a  remarkable  story  it  is,  and 

in  an  eminent  sense  it  needs  explanation. 

At  the  very  outset,  then,  let  me  say 

T     •    1  T>  ^''^^.^^  that,  for  reasons  indicated  in  our  Intro- 
an  Inspired  Parable.  ' 

ductory  Study,  I  believe  that  this  record 
of  the  Genesis  of  Woman  is  a  Divine  Parable.  Of  course, 
it  is  possible  that  the  record  is  to  be  taken  literally.     Of 


GENESIS  OF  WOMAN.  223 

course,  it  is  possible  that  Almighty  God,  for  Whom  noth- 
ing is  too  hard  (G<:n.  xviii.  4),  except  to  do  wrong,  could  have 
performed  on  Adam  in  Eden  a  snrgical  operation,  admin- 
istering to  him  an  anaesthetic  (for  it  is  scarcely  conceivable 
that  a  loving  God  would  have  inflicted  on  a  sinless  Man  in 
Paradise  the  pain  of  a  bodily  injury  without  the  soothing 
of   an  anodyne),  taking  out  of  the  slumberer  one  of   his 
ribs,  stanching  the  crimson  flow,  healing  the  wound,  turn- 
ing the  rib  into  a  Woman.    Of  course,  the  Maker  of  heaven 
and  earth,  had  He  so  chosen,  could  have  done  this,  and 
many  another  even  more  incredible  thing.     Nevertheless, 
I  cannot  help  feeling  that  to  take  the  story  thus  hterally  is 
not  only  to  isolate  it  from  other  scenes  of  the  Creative 
Week,  which  we  are  compelled,  for  reasons  repeatedly  as- 
signed, to  regard  as  panoramic  ;  it  is  also  to  degrade  a  sol- 
emn, profound  Parable  into  a  grotesque,  ridiculous  affair, 
worthy  to  take  its  place,  not  with  the  august  revelations  of 
the  Infinite  One,  but  with  the  cunningly-de^nsed  fables  of 
heathen  legends,  as,  e.  g.,  the  birth  of  panoplied  Athene 
from  the  cloven  brow  of  Zeus.   Eemember,  as  I  have  often 
reminded  you,  that  in  this  matter  of  the  Creative  Week  we 
are  moving  in  a  region  of  incomparable  Traths,  altogether 
transcending  human  experience.    The  language,  then,  must, 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  be  figurative,  giving  us  the 
truth  not  so  much  in  literal  details  as  in  shado\vy  outlines, 
colossal  hints,  stupendous  flitting  vistas.    No,  friends,  the 
Story  of  the  Genesis  of  Woman  is  a  Divine  Parable.     Be- 
ing a  Divine  Parable,  it  has  been  written  for  our  instnic- 
tion,  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come  (iCor.  x.  ii). 
May  God  help  us  to  catch  the  trae,  momentous  meaning  ! 
Let  us,  then,  again  ascend  the  Mount 
2. -Panorama  of  ^^  p.^^oramic  Yisiou,  and  survey  with 
Emergent  \>  oman.  ,        .      ,  r.  i  c  i  t  £ 

the  mspired  Seer  the  unfoldmg  scene  oi 


224  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Emergent  Woman.  It  is  still  the  Sixth  Day.  Eden,  in  all 
its  ravishing  beauty,  lies  before  us.  Adam,  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  his  Maker,  respirant  with  His  inbreathing  (Gen.  u.  7), 
radiant  with  His  Image  (Gen.  i.  26),  walks  before  us  lord  of 
all.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  the  Edenic  perfections,  he  is  ill 
at  ease.  There  is,  somehow,  the  sense  of  an  indefinable 
want.  And  now  his  Maker  would  teach  him  the  secret  of 
his  disquietude.  Accordingly,  He  summons  before  the 
Man  the  various  forms  of  animal  life,  that  Adam  may 
catch  a  glimpse  of  what  is  meant  by  Society.  And  so 
every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  bird  of  the  air  comes 
trooping  to  Adam,  and  he  gives  to  each  its  name.  The 
vision  of  this  moving,  sentient,  abounding  life  awakes  the 
latent  capacity  for  companionship.  But,  amid  all  these 
varieties  of  animal  life,  he  finds  no  true  companion,  no 
help  meet,  no  mate  suited  to  him.  And  now,  wearied  with 
his  work  of  naming  the  animal  creation,  and  still  disquieted 
by  the  sense  of  defect,  he  lies  down  on  the  rich,  odorous 
sward,  it  may  be  in  the  shadow  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and 
falls  into  a  profound  slumber.  It  is  the  golden  hour  for 
Divine  instruction ;  for  it  is  in  dreams,  in  visions  of  the 
night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men,  that  God  openeth 
\  their  ear,  and  sealetli  up  their  instruction  (Job  xxxiii.  15, 16). 
1  Wrapped  in  his  deep  sleep,  Eden's  dreamer  beholds  the 
Ivision  of  his  Second  Self.  He  sees  his  Maker  taking  from 
out  of  him  one  of  his  own  ribs,  forming  it  into  a  Woman, 
and  presenting  her  in  all  her  glorious  beauty  to  himself,  to 
be  to  him  henceforth  that  blessed  mate  for  whom  he  lias 
unconsciously  sighed.  And  so  his  God  has  in  very  truth 
given  to  His  beloved  in  his  sleep  (Psalm  cxxvii.  2).  Nor  is  it 
altogether  a  dream.  Awaking  from  his  sleep,  he  beholds 
still  standing  by  him  the  fair,  blissful  vision.  Instinctively 
recognizing  the   community  of   nature,  he  joyously  ex- 


GENESIS   OF   WOMAN.  225 

claims  :  "  This,  now,  is  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh ;  this  shaU  be  called  Woman,  Isha,  because  from  Man, 
Ish,  was  she  taken."  And  hand  in  hand  they  stroU  rai- 
mentless— the  Man  and  his  Wife— and  are  not  ashamed. 
And  so  falls  the  curtain  on  the  final  scene  of  the  drama  of 
the  Sixth  Day.     Such  is  the  Vision  of  Emergent  Woman. 

,,     ^,     ,  ,f  And  now  let  us  attend  to  some  of 

II.~Moral  Mean-  ^^"^  -.    ,      -rr-  • 

ing  of  the  Vision,     the  lessons  of  the  Yision. 

1  -The  Essential         And,  first :  The  Essential  Tnity  of 

Unity  of  Man  and  Man  and  Woman :  "  This,  now,  is  bone 

AVoman.  of  my  bones  and  fiesh  of  my  flesh ;  this 

shall  be  called  Woman,  because  from  Man  was  she  taken." 

But  here,  at  the  very  outset,  let  me 

(rt.)— Woman's  For-  ^^  yQ^^j,  attention  to  a  significant  fact. 

mai    Inferiority    to  j^  ^^^^  Parable  of  Eden  is  tnie.  Woman 

is  inferior  to  Man.     I  am  aware  that  I 

am  entering  on  a  debated,  troublesome  question.     But  I 

have  undertaken  to  expound  the  Story  of  the  Creative 

Week.     I  wish  to  do  my  task  honestly,  and,  so  far  as  may 

be,  thoroughly,  fairly  meeting  every  question  fairly  raised. 

And  our  Passage  does  fairly  raise  the  question  of  Woman's 

relation  to  Man  in  the  matter  of  authority.     The  Woman 

was  not  created  alongside  with  the  Man ;  the  Woman  was 

taken  out  of  the  Man.    And  millenniums  afterward,  in  full 

blaze  of  Him  Who,  as  born  of  Woman,  is  the  Light  of 

men.  His  Apostle  Paul  reaffirms  the  ancient  Archive: 

"  The  Man  is  not  from  the  Woman,  but  the  Woman  from 

the  Man ;  neither  was  the  Man  for  the  sake  of  the  Woman, 

but  the  Woman  was  for  the  sake  of  the  Man  (i  Cor.  xi.  8, 9) ; 

for  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve  "  (i  Tim.  ii.  13).     And 

upon  this  fact  the  Apostle,  throughout  his  Letters,  bases 

his  doctrine  of  Woman's  subordination  to  Man.     But  what 

are  we  to  learn  from  these  deliverances  of  Holy  Writ 


226  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

touching  Woman's  subordination  ?  That  Man  is  essentially 
superior  to  Woman  ?  Most  certainly  not.  We  are  to  learn 
chiefly  this  :  Woman,  in  the  matter  of  outward,  fonnal, 
scenic  authority,  is  to  yield  to  Man.  For  every  kind  of 
organization,  whatever  it  may  be,  political,  military,  finan- 
cial, ecclesiastical,  domestic,  must  have  some  kind  of  nomi- 
nal head,  or  index-finger — e.  g.,  King,  President,  General, 
Chairman,  Bishop,  Pastor,  Husband.  Look  at  grand  old 
Fatherland.  According  to  her  theory  of  Government, 
England  must  have  a  Monarch.  And  who  sits  on  Eng- 
land's throne  to-day  ?  A  woman  —  a  pure,  noble,  true- 
hearted  woman.  But,  because  Victoria  wears  a  crown  as 
her  nation's  emblazoned  figure-head,  does  it  necessarily  fol- 
low that  she  is  intellectually  superior  to  the  Disraeli  who 
holds  her  helm  of  state  ;  or  morally  superior  to  the  Spur- 
geon  who  preaches  that  there  is  another  Sovereign,  even 
one  Jesus  ?  Quite  so  is  it  with  Woman  in  her  relation  to 
Man.  According  to  Holy  Scripture,  she  is  subordinate  to 
him.  But  this  subordination  implies  in  no  sense  what- 
ever any  essential  inferiority.  Woman  is  Man's  peer  in  all 
essential  capacities — in  capacities  of  sensibility,  intellect, 
moral  worth,  humanhood.  AVoman  is  Man's  inferior  sim- 
ply in  the  matter  of  scenic,  symbolic,  formal  authority. 
Alas !  there  are  men  who  are  brutes  enough  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  this  truth,  and,  complacently  airing  their  own 
grandeur,  talk  patronizingly  of  Woman. 

"  0,  it  is  excellent 
To  liavo  a  giant's  strength ;  but  it  is  tyrannous 
To  use  it  like  a  ginnt. 
Could  great  men  thunder 

As  Jove  himself  does,  Jove  would  ne'er  be  quiet, 
For  every  pelting,  petty  officer 
Would  use  his  heaven -for  thunder :  nothing  but  thunder 


GENESIS  OF  WOMAN.  22< 

Man,  proud  man ! 
Dress'd  in  a  little  brief  authority  ; 
Most  ignorant  of  what  he's  most  assur'd, 
His  glassy  essence — like  an  angry  ape — 
Plays  such  fantastic  tricks  before  high  Heaven, 
As  make  the  angels  weep." 

— ("Measure  foe  Measitee,"  ii.  2.) 

And  when  any  husband  takes  advantage  of  this  Script- 
ural teaching  respecting  Woman's  formal  inferiority,  and 
lords  it  over  his  wife,  or  talks  slightingly  of  her,  or  of  her 
sex,  as  an  inferior  creation,  he  does  a  mean,  contemptible 
thing,  and  would  God  I  could 

"  Put  in  every  honest  hand  a  whip, 
To  lash  the  rascals  naked  through  the  world, 
Even  from  the  East  to  the  AVest !  " 

—("' Othello,"  iv.  2.) 

Nevertheless,  this  formal,  modal  inferiority  is  one  of 
Woman's  essential,  distinctive  conditions  as  Woman.  In 
no  wise  whatever  is  it  a  punishment,  or  degradation,  or 
consequent  of  the  Fall.  It  antedates  the  Fall  itself.  In 
her  very  make-up,  as  formed  out  of  the  First  Man,  Woman 
is,  in  the  matter  of  technical,  formal  headshii),  Man  s  sub- 
ordinate. And  well  is  it  in  these  days  of  Woman's  Eights, 
falsely  and  stupidly  so  called — these  days  when  Woman  is 
invited  to  unsex  herseK,  and  usurp  the  reins,  and  the  toga, 
and  the  baton — to  go  back  to  first  principles,  ay,  to  her 
own  Genesis,  even  to  the  Rib  of  the  Sleeping  Adam.  No 
wonder  that  so  many  of  the  so-called  Reformers — Heaven 
save  the  mark ! — are  infidels.  Paul  and  Moses,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  facts  and  common-sense,  are  inconveniently,  outrage- 
ously, in  their  way. 

,, ,    ,„        ,  _,  Nevertheless,   in  spite   of   all  this, 

(o.) — Woman's  Es-  _  '     .         ^  •  i     -\r 

sential  Etiuality.         Woman  is   essentially  one  with  Man. 
Listen  to  the  First  Man's  speech  :  "  This 


228  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

now  is  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesli :  this  shall 
be  called  Woman,  because  from  Man  was  she  taken."  Man 
and  Woman,  then,  considered  in  their  essence,  are  a  Unity, 
But,  observe,  unity  implies  complexity ;  that  is  to  say,  Uni- 
ty implies  likeness  and  unlikeness,  sameness  and  difference, 
community  and  diversity. 

(i.)-Community  of  Consider,  then,  first :  the  community 
Man  and  Woman.  of  Man  and  Womau.  According  to  the 
Parable  of  Eden,  Woman  is  generically 
of  the  same  nature  with  Man,  bone  of  his  bones  and  flesh 
of  his  flesh.  Their  community  is  something  more  than 
mere  similarity  of  nature :  it  is  in  very  fact  con-nature  it- 
self. Woman's  very  name  is  Islia,  i.  e.,  Man-ness,  because 
from  Ish,  i.  e.,  Man,  was  she  taken.  And  "  Woman  was 
taken,"  some  one  has  significantly  said,  "  neither  from  Man's 
foot,  nor  from  Man's  head,  but  from  Man's  side  ; "  that  is 
to  say,  from  near  Man's  heart ;  and  the  heart  is  at  bottom 
the  world's  real  Sceptre;  and  therefore  Woman  is  the 
world's  real  monarch.     Ay, 

"  More  royalty  in  woman's  heart 
Than  dwells  within  the  crowned  majesty 
And  sceptred  anger  of  a  hundred  kings." 

— ("EicuEUEu,"  iii.  2.) 

Woman,  then,  is  something  more  than  Man's  image  or 
counterpart:  Woman  is  Man's  essential  Peer,  his  Alter 
Ego,  his  Second  Self.  There  is  notliing,  then,  in  the  es- 
sential nature  of  Woman  which  should  exclude  her  from 
the  rights,  privileges,  activities,  or  duties,  which  inherently 
belong  to  the  genus  Homo.  Whatever  is  legitimately  open 
to  Man,  not  indeed  as  a  man,  but  as  a  Human  Being,  is 
equally  open  to  Woman :  for  both  are  equally  human. 
Woman  as  well  as  Man  can  feel,  think,  reason,  imagine. 


GENESIS  OF  WOMAN.  229 

observe,  classify,  generalize,  deduce.  Woman  as  well  as 
Man  can  sell  goods,  plan  buildings,  make  statues,  resolve 
nebulae,  discover  elements,  diagnosticate  diseases,  construct 
philosophies,  write  epics.  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  Woman  as  Woman  which  should  forbid  her  having  a 
specific  employment  or  vocation  as  distinctively  as  the 
brother  brought  up  by  her  side.  True,  there  are  some 
things  which  Woman  cannot  do  as  well  as  Man :  not  be- 
cause she  is  inferior  in  any  of  the  essential  attributes  of 
humanity,  but  simjjly  because  she  is  inferior  in  the  acci- 
dental element  of  physical  strength.  It  is  no  more  to 
Woman's  discredit  that  she  does  not  figure  well  in  leaving 
her  nursery  to  shoe  a  horse  than  it  is  to  Man's  discredit 
that  he  does  not  figure  well  in  leaving  his  anvil  to  rock 
the  baby.  While,  then,  many  of  the  occupations  which 
Man  has  hitherto  claimed  as  exclusively  his  own  are  in 
the  growing  wisdom  of  society  admitted  to  be  equally 
open  to  Woman,  there  are  certain  other  occupations  from 
which  Woman  is  manifestly  excluded.  Evidently  she  is 
not  called  to  hold  the  plough,  or  wield  the  sledge,  or  fell 
the  forest,  or  hoist  the  mainsail,  or  seize  the  burglar,  or 
harangue  the  caucus,  Nevertheless,  in  all  that  constitu- 
ently  belongs  to  Man  as  Man,  in  all  that  makes  up  the 
essentiality  of  his  being,  Woman  is  one  with  Man,  sharing 
his  nature,  his  inspiration,  his  imageship,  his  sonhood. 
Thank  God,  we  are  living  in  an  age  of  the  world  when 
St.  Paul's  doctrine,  that  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female,  but  both  are  one  in  Him  (Gal.  iii.  28),  is 
beginning  to  be  really  believed,  and  when  Woman,  as 
Man's  essential  peer,  is  resuming  those  majestic,  Heaven- 
endowed  proportions  which  she  wore  in  that  far-off  Sixth 
Day  when  God  created  Man  in  His  own  likeness,  male 
and  female  created  He  them,  and  He  blessed  them,  and 


230  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

called  their  name  Man,  in  the  day  when  they  were  created 

(Gen.  V.  1,  2), 

^     ,.       ,  ,„  "  But  how  far  are  you  sroinsj  to  cari-y 

Question  of  \yom-         _  ^  J        &       o  J 

an  Suffrage.  ^^^is  doctrine  of  "Woman's  Equality  ? " 

I  hear  you  asking.  "Do  you  propose 
to  extend  it  as  far  as  the  right  of  Suffrage  ?  "  Yes,  I  do, 
I  reply,  and  I  trust  that  my  answer  is  sufficiently  unam- 
biguous. But  observe  precisely  the  ground  on  which  I 
base  the  right  of  Woman  to  the  Suffrage.  It  is  not  on  the 
ground  so  generally,  and  as  I  think  mistakenly,  assumed 
by  the  over-zealous  leaders  of  the  Woman's  movement, 
viz.,  that  the  right  of  the  elective  franchise  is  one  of  the 
essential,  elemental  rights  inherent  in  humanity  as  such. 
The  right  of  the  elective  francliise  is,  according  to  the 
theory  of  our  political  institutions,  and  as  I  think  justly, 
only  an  incidental,  contingent  right,  to  be  regulated  by  the 
Constitution  and  statutes.  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Govern- 
ment does  discriminate.  E.  g.,  it  discriminates  in  favor  of 
the  adult,  and  against  the  "infant,"  or  minor.  It  dis- 
criminates in  favor  of  an  alien — but  a  brief  time  in  our 
country — an  alien,  it  may  be,  ignorant,  drunken,  scarcely 
able  to  pay  his  poll-tax  of  fifty  cents,  and  ha\'ing  no  hered- 
itary interest  in  the  country ;  and  against  a  native-born, 
adult,  educated,  virtuous  woman,  paying,  it  may  be,  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  of  taxes,  and  having  an  inherited,  pro- 
found interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Since,  then, 
the  right  of  Suffrage  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  discriminated 
riffht,  I  base  the  riffht  of  AVoman  to  the  elective  franchise 
on  the  ground  of  equity  and  of  policy,  that  is  to  say,  pru- 
dence. The  person,  whether  man  or  woman,  who  pays 
taxes  has  the  right  to  have  a  voice  in  deciding  who  the 
Government  shall  be  that  imposes  and  receives  those  taxes. 
That  is  simple,  sheer  equity.      And  the  man  who  does 


GENESIS  OF   WOMAN.  231 

not  concede  the  right  to  every  tax-payer,  whether  man  or 
woman,  is  an  unjust  man.  Again :  the  right  of  Suffrage 
being  a  conferrable  right,  to  be  apportioned  and  reguhited 
by  the  Government  or  Constitution  (and  the  Constitution 
is  the  Government),  the  right  sliould  be  conferred  emi- 
nently on  those  who,  in  virtue  of  being  particuhxrly  inter- 
ested in  having  a  good  government,  and  also  in  virtue  of 
being  especially  endowed  with  the  instinct  of  propriety, 
are  likely  to  use  the  right  of  Suffrage  intelligently  and 
patriotically.  And  who  are  likely  to  use  this  right  intelli- 
gently and  patriotically,  if  it  be  not  the  women  of  Amer- 
ica ?  "Who  is  likely  to  vote  wisely,  if  it  be  not  the  wives, 
the  value  of  whose  husbands'  property  depends  on  a  stable, 
just  government,  the  mothers  whose  sons  and  daughter 
are  to  be  the  America  of  the  next  generation  ?  We  hear 
a  great  deal  said  in  our  day  about  Civil  Service  Reform. 
I  will  tell  you  the  surest  way  of  reforming  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice, and  this  not  only  as  managed  by  the  Administration, 
but  also  as  managed  by  Congress  and  Legislators  and  City 
Councils  :  it  is  by  appointing  your  polling-places  elsewhere 
than  next  door  to  a  groggery,  and  by  inviting  your  mothers 
and  wives  and  sisters  to  deposit  ballots  of  their  own  free 
choice,  and  thereby  save  the  country.  America's  salvation 
lies  under  God  in  America's  Women.  It  is  precisely  be- 
cause I  desire  to  conserve  our  Glorious  Past  that  I  plant 
myself  on  the  platform  of  Woman  Suffrage.  There  are 
times  when  Radicalism  is  the  intensest  Conservatism. 
And  this  is  precisely  one  of  those  times. 

But,  although  this  allusion  to  the 
,,      "",  ^W"^''^' ^  ^    Rio-ht  of  Women  to  the  Suffrage  was 

Man  and  \V  oman.  ^  ^  _     _  o    ^     ^ 

pertinent  to  the  topic  in  hand,  yet  it  is 
but  an  incidental  point,  and  so  we  return  to  the  main 
theme  under  this  head  of  discussion,  viz. :    the  essential 


232  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

unity  of  Man  and  Woman.  Nevertheless,  tliis  unity,  as  I 
have  already  said,  implies  diversity  as  well  as  community. 
In  fact,  as  was  shown  in  the  Lecture  on  the  Genesis  of 
Lands,  diversity  is  essential  to  unity.  Diversities,  coor- 
dinated, and  duly  bounded,  make  unity.  Recall  the  differ- 
ence between  a  unit  and  a  unity.  A  unit  is  a  homogeneous 
one — e.  g.,  an  atom  of  oxygen,  or  an  atom  of  hydrogen. 
A  unity  is  a  blended,  coherent,  systematized  collection  of 
diverse  ones  in  a  state  of  homogeneousness  or  oneness — 
e.  g.,  the  union  of  atoms  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  forming 
a  molecule  of  water.  It  is  the  blending  of  different  and 
complemental  colors — e.  g.,  blue  and  orange,  green  and  red, 
purple  and  yellow — which  yields  the  harmonious  white. 
Looking  at  the  point  under  discussion  in  this  light,  there  is 
no  superber  instance  of  Unity  than  Man  and  "Woman.  Ke- 
call  the  phraseology  of  our  passage  :  "  Jehovali  God  said  : 
'  It  is  not  good  that  the  Man  should  be  alone  ;  I  will  make 
him  a  help  meet  for  him  :  "  that  is  to  say,  a  helper  suited  to 
him,  one  over  against  him,  correspondent  to  him,  comple- 
mental to  him,  matching  him.  It  was  the  Birth  of  Society. 
Woman  is  something  more  than  a  supplement  or  appendix 
to  Man  ;  Woman  is  Man's  complement.  Man  and  Woman 
are  the  two  poles  of  the  sphere  of  humanity,  opposite  and 
complemental,  complemental  because  opposite.  And  the 
one  pole  implies  the  other.  Legislate  as  much  as  you  please, 
you  cannot  abolish  the  fact  of  the  sexes.  Constituently, 
elementally  the  same,  Man  and  Woman  are  organized  on 
different  bases.  Like  the  stars,  they  differ  in  their  glory 
(1  Cor.  XV.  41).  Each  has  certain  excellences  which  are  pe- 
culiar to  each,  and  distinctive  of  each.  Man's  excellences 
are  virtues ;  Woman's  excellences  are  graces ;  and  I  sus- 
pect that,  in  the  judgment  of  Ilim  Who  seetli  in  secret,  the 
graces  are  diviner  than  the  virtues.     It  is  Woman's  delicate 


GENESIS  OF  WOMAN.  §33 

beauty  of  sj)irit  which  gives  her  the  right  to  win,  and 
which,  thank  God,  does  win,  Man's  sturdy  love.  It  is 
Woman's  physical  weakness  which  constitutes  her  claim  on 
Man's  physical  strength.  It  is  Woman's  purity  which  con- 
stitutes her  claim  on  Man's  reverence.  It  is  Woman's 
womanliness  which  constitutes  her  claim  on  Man's  manli- 
ness. ISTo  manner  of  sympathy,  then,  have  I  with  those 
would-be  reformers  who,  in  their  noisy  and  witless  cham- 
pionship of  what  they  imagine  are  Woman's  Eights,  fancy 
they  can  override  the  everlasting  laws  of  Nature,  and  turn 
Woman  into  Man.  Only  one  thing  in  this  world  is  feebler 
than  a  womanized  man ;  it  is  a  manized  woman.  It  is 
only  as  Woman  remains  womanly  that  Woman  remains  im- 
perial. It  is  well,  then,  let  me  say  again,  that  in  these 
days  of  confused,  riotous,  infidel  reform,  we  go  back  to 
first  principles,  even  the  Eden  of  the  primal,  sinless,  per- 
fect Pair.  In  so  doing  we  shall  learn  to  lienor  Man  and 
AVoman  equally.  For  each  is  essential  to  the  other.  And 
here  let  the  same  apostle  wdio  has  taught  us  touching  Wom- 
an's formal  subordination  teach  us  touching  Woman's  es- 
sential, necessary  equality  :  "  Neither  is  the  Man  without 
the  Woman,  nor  the  Woman  without  the  Man,  in  the 
Lord ;  for  even  as  the  Woman  is  from  the  Man,  so  also 
is  the  Man  by  the  Woman ;  and  both  are  from  God  " 
(1  Cor.  xi.  11-12).  Each  is  incomplete  without  the  other.  It 
is  the  union  of  the  hemispheres  which  makes  the  sphere. 
For  so  the  Laureate  sings : 

"  For  woman  is  not  undeveloped  man, 
But  diverse :  could  we  make  lier  as  the  man, 
Sweet  love  were  slain :  his  dearest  bond  is  this, 
Not  like  to  like,  but  like  in  difference. 
Yet  in  the  long  years  liker  must  they  grow  ; 
The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man ; 


234  STUDIES   IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 

Nor  lose  the  wrestling  thews  that  throw  the  world; 

She  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care. 

Nor  lose  the  childlike  in  the  larger  mind  ; 

Till  at  the  last  she  set  herself  to  man, 

Like  perfect  music  unto  noble  words ; 

And  so  these  twain  upon  the  skirts  of  Time 

Sit  side  by  side,  full-summed  in  all  their  powers. 

Dispensing  harvest,  sowing  the  To-be, 

Self-reverent  each  and  reverencing  each. 

Distinct  in  individualities, 

But  like  each  other  even  as  those  who  love. 

Then  comes  the  statelier  Eden  back  to  men : 

Then  reign  the  world's  great  bridals,  chaste  and  calm  ; 

Then  springs  the  crowning  race  of  humankind. 

Consonant  chords  tliat  shiver  to  one  note: 

The  two-celled  heart  beating,  with  one  full  stroke, 

Life."— ("  The  Princess.") 

This,  tlien,  is  our  first  lesson :  tlie  Unity  of  Man  and 
Woman.  "  This  now  is  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh  ;  this  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  from  Man  was 
she  taken." 

But  our  passage  teaches  a  second  les- 

2. — Marriage  a  Di-  -.r       •  •  -nv    •        t     x-j.    j.- 

J    ,.,  ..  son:  JMarriaffe  is  a  Divine  institution : 

vine  Institution.  o 

"  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father 
and  his  mother  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife  ;  and  they  shall 
be  one  flesh  " — i.  e.,  one  personality.  The  words  are  mem- 
orable as  being  the  first  statement  of  the  Old  Testament 
that  is  cited  in  the  New.  The  Pharisees  came  to  Jesus 
tempting  Ilim,  and  saying :  "  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put 
away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ? "  Jesus,  answering,  said  to 
them :  "  What  did  Moses  command  you  I  Have  ye  not 
read  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Creation  God  made 
them  male  and  female,  saying :  '  For  this  cause  shall  a  man 


GENESIS   OF  WOMAN.  235 

leave  liis  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife, 
and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh  ? '  So,  then,  they  are  no 
more  two,  but  one  flesh.  "What,  therefore,  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder  "  (Matt.  xix.  3-6).  I 
know,  indeed,  that  human  legislation  declares,  and  proper- 
ly enough,  that  any  given  marriage  is  a  civil  contract,  or 
rather  status.  Nor  can  human  legislation  guard  with  a 
jealousy  too  keen  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage-bond. 
That  sacredness  is  the  oegis  of  our  firesides,  the  palladium 
of  our  homes.  Nevertheless,  marriage  is  something  more 
than  a  civil  contract  or  status,  something  more  than  a  human 
device.  Maniage  is  a  Divine  Institution,  older  than  His- 
tory, or  Fall,  or  Sabbath  ;  as  old  as  Eden  and  the  Primal 
Pair.  Marriage  is  a  constituent,  elemental  fact  of  Human- 
ity. As  such,  it  is  as  much  a  Divine  Fact  as  the  Sabbath,  or 
the  Stars,  or  the  Universe  itself.  In  the  very  fact  of  creat- 
ing the  "Woman  and  presenting  her  to  the  Man,  the  Lord  of 
all  ordained  the  Marriage  Institution.  Older  than  any  other 
human  relation,  it  takes  precedence  of  them  all :  "  For  this 
cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall 
cleave  to  his  wife,  and  the  two  shall  be  one  flesh,  one  per- 
sonality." Thus  the  very  idea  of  marriage,  as  existing  in 
the  Creator's  mind,  precludes  its  dissolution  :  "  No  longer 
twain,  but  one  flesh."  Only  the  God  AYho  joins  can  dis- 
join. AVhat,  therefore,  God  hath  joined  together  let  not 
man  put  asunder.  Accordingly,  Marriage  being  a  Divine 
Institution,  it  is  an  intensely  religious  Ordinance.  Well 
may  we  speak  of  the  "  holy  estate  of  Matrimony."  Most 
fitting,  then,  is  it  that  the  marriage-ceremony  should  be 
ecclesiastical — that  is  to  say,  religious.  Not  that  the  min- 
ister really  weds  the  couple ;  it  is  God  "Who  joins  them. 
The  minister's  function  is  not  executive  ;  it  is  only  declara- 
tive.    But  the  minister  is  not  omniscient.     Alas,  that  he 


336  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

sliould  ever  be  mistaken,  declaring  those  wedded  whom  God 
has  not  joined  together !  ISTevertheless,  marriage  is  a  Di- 
vine Ordinance,  and  as  such  intensely  religious.  Consider, 
then,  well,  O  young  friends !  what  you  may  be  proposing. 
Marriage  is,  in  sight  of  God,  as  sacred,  solemn  an  act  as 
Baptism.  God  grant  that  ye  who  are  thinking  of  matri- 
mony may,  indeed,  be  fellow-heirs  of  the  Grace  of  Life ; 
that  your  prayers  be  not  hindered  (i  Peter  iii.  l).  This,  then, 
is  the  second  lesson  of  our  passage  :  Marriage  a  Divine  In- 
stitution. 

But  our  passage  teaches  a  third  les- 
Tir  '  ~     ^  m  ^"^    I  son ;  it  is  this  :  The  earthly  Marriage  is 

Marriage   a  Type  of  '  ir  xi       tt  i         It     j.  -    ^ 

the  Heavenly.  ^  ^TV^  ^^  ^^^^  Heavenly — that  IS  to  say, 

in  the  story  of  the  Unfallen  Adam  and 
Eve  we  may  read  a  parable  of  the  Story  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  Church.  We  are  expressly  told  that  Adam  was 
the  figure  or  type  of  Him  Who  was  to  come  (Rom.  v.  14),  and 
that  the  Church  has  been  betrothed  as  a  pure  Virgin  to  one 
Husband,  even  Jesus  Christ  (2  Cor.  xi.  2).  In  fact,  this  con- 
ception of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Church  under  figure  of 
Bridegroom  and  Bride  underlies  the  whole  Scripture  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation.  It  is  foreshadowed  in  the  Parable 
of  Eden.  It  is  typified  in  the  Spiritual  Marriage  between 
Jehovah  and  His  ancient  Israel :  "  Thou  slialt  no  more  be 
termed  Azubah,  i.  e.,  Forsaken,  neither  shall  thy  land  any 
more  be  termed  Shammah,  i.  e.,  Desolate ;  but  thou  shalt 
be  called  Hej)lizibah,  i.  e.,  My  Delight,  and  thy  land  Beu- 
lah,  i.  e..  Married  :  for  Jehovah  delighteth  in  thee,  and  thy 
land  shall  be  married  :  for  thy  Maker  is  thy  Husband,  the 
Lord  of  hosts  is  His  name  "  (Is.  Ixii.  4).  It  is  the  theme  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Psalm,  wherein  are  set  forth  the  personal 
beauty,  the  warlike  prowess,  the  divine  majesty,  the  just 
government  of  a  royal  Bridegroom,  and  the  gorgeous  at- 


GENESIS  OF   WOMAN.  237 

tire  and  retinue  of  a  royal  Bride.  It  is  tlie  underlying 
conception  of  the  Canticles,  or  Solomon's  Song  of  Songs. 
It  furnishes  the  Proj^hets  with  their  most  frequent  and 
powerful  imagery  in  their  denunciations  of  Israel's  co- 
quetry with  idols  and  open  apostasy,  setting  forth  her  sins 
in  this  respect  under  the  various  terms  of  marital  infidelity. 
It  is  expressly  and  emphatically  asserted  in  the  Kew  Testa- 
ment. Let  me  cite  a  single  example :  "  Husbands,  love 
your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church,  and  gave 
Himself  up  for  her ;  that  He  might  sanctify  her,  cleansing 
her  by  the  washing — by  the  bath,  in  the  laver  of  the  water 
of  the  Word :  that  He  Himself  might  present  to  Himself 
the  Church  glorious,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any 
such  thing  :  but  that  she  might  be  holy  and  without  blem- 
ish. So  ought  husbands  also  to  love  their  own  wives  as 
their  own  bodies.  He  who  loveth  his  own  wife  loveth 
himself :  for  no  one  ever  hated  his  own  flesh,  but  nourish- 
eth  and  cherisheth  it,  even  as  Christ  also  doth  the  Church  : 
because  we  are  members  of  His  body  (being  of  His  flesh 
and  of  His  bones).  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father 
and  mother,  and  shall  be  joined  to  his  wife,  and  the  two 
shall  be  one  flesh.  This  mystery  is  a  great  one  :  but  I  say 
it  in  regard  to  Christ  and  the  Church  "  (Eph.  v.  25-32).*  And 
this  mystery  of  the  Heavenly  Bridegroom  and  Bride  was 
foreshadowed,  let  me  repeat,  from  the  very  beginning,  even 
in  Eden's  primeval  nuptial.  And  now  let  us  ponder  some 
of  the  analogies  between  the  two  Bridals  :  the  Bridal  in  the 
Eden  that  has  been  and  the  Bridal  in  the  Eden  that  is  to  be.' 
r  \    rv.  ■  *   rt-  And,  first,  as  Eve  owed  her  origin 

(a.) — Christ    Him-  '  '  ^ 

self  the  Origin  of  His  to  Adam,  SO  does  the  Church  owe  her 
Church.  origin  to  Jesus  Christ.     She,  at  least,  is 

'  See  also  Ex.  xxxiv.  15, 16;  Jer.  iii. :  Ezek.  xvi.,  xxiii. ;  Rosea  i.,  il. ;  Matt.  ix.  15,  xxii. 
1-4,  xxv.  1-13;  John  ui.  29 ;  2  Cor.  xi.  2,  3  ;  Rev.  xix.  6-9,  xxi.  2-9,  xxii.  17,  etc. 


238  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

no  instance  of  Spontaneous  Generation.  She  is  no  Au- 
tochtlion,  self-orient  from  humanity  or  I^ature.  She  is, 
so  to  speak,  a  Divine  Gemmation,  budding  from  the  bleed- 
ing side  of  the  Second  and  true  Adam,  pierced  on  the 
cross,  and  sleeping  in  that  other  Garden  which,  alas !  was 
no  Eden,  but  a  cemetery,  out  of  whose  sepulchre  sprung 
the  tnie  Tree  of  Life/  In  other  words,  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  which  is  His  Body. 

IsTevei-theless,  secondly :   As  Adam 

(6.)-ChristandHis    ^^^  -g^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^.       ^^^^  ^^^  g^^j 
Church  a  Unity.  .  '  ' 

that  IS  to  say,  one  personality,  so  are 
Jesus  Christ  and  His  Church.  As  sucli,  they  have  com- 
munity of  nature.  As  Eve  was  called  Woman,  because 
from  Man  had  she  been  taken,  being  bone  of  his  bones  and 
flesh  of  his  flesh,  so  the  Second  Eve,  even  the  Church,  is 
one  with  the  Second  Adam,  even  the  Christ,  being  mem- 
bers of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones  (Eph.  v.  30). 
As  such,  they  share  a  common  life,  being  one  in  nature,  in 
character,  in  experience,  in  temptation,  in  passion,  in  tri- 
umph ;  she  His  follower,  sparkling  with  the  jewels  of  His 
Graces,  continuing  with  Him  steadfastly  in  His  tempta- 
tions (Luke  xxii.  28),  filling  up  what  is  yet  behind  of  His  aftiic- 
tions  for  His  Body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church  (Col.  i.  24), 
rising  with  Him  from  the  dead  (Col.  iii.  i),  overcoming  with 
Him,  sitting  down  with  Him  on  His  throne  (Rev.  iii.  21),  joint 
heir  with  Him  (Rom.  viii.  17)  to  His  patrimony  of  the  worlds 
(neb.  i.  2).     Not  that  the  Church  has  yet  attained  to  all  this. 

1  The  Idea  is  as  old  as  Augustine,  but  ho  subsidizes  it  curiously  in  behalf  of  Sacramental- 
ism.  "At  the  beg-inninp  of  the  Imman  race  the  Woman  was  made  of  a  rib  taken  from  the 
side  of  the  man  while  he  slept:  for  it  seemed  fit  that  even  then  Christ  and  His  Church 
should  be  foreshadowed  in  this  event.  For  that  sleep  of  the  man  was  the  death  of  Christ, 
Whose  side,  as  lie  hung  lifeless  upon  the  cross,  was  pierced  with  a  spear,  and  there  flowed 
from  it  blood  and  water,  and  these  we  know  to  be  the  sacraments  by  which  the  Church  is 
'  built  up.'  For  Scripture  used  this  very  word,  not  saying,  '  He  formed,'  or  '  framed,'  but 
'built  her  up  into  a  woniiin;'  whence  also  the  Apostle  speaks  of  'the  building  up  of  tho 
body  of  Christ,  which  is  the  Church.'  "— ("  City  of  God,"  Book  xxii.,  ch.  17.) 


GENESIS   OF   WOMAN.  239 

Slie  is  still  but  a  child,  speaking  as  a  child,  feeling  as  a 
child,  thinking  as  a  child.  But  the  day  is  approaching 
when  that  which  is  perfect  shall  come,  and  that  which  is 
in  part  shall  end.  Then  shall  she  put  away  childish  things 
(1  Cor.  xiii.  9-11).  Then  shall  she  attain  to  the  unity  of  the 
faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  j)er- 
fect  man,  unto  the  proportions  of  a  full-grown  personality, 
even  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ  (Eph.  iv.  13),  standing  before  Him  in  very  truth  as  His 
help  meet  and  complemental,  His  Peer  in  the  Second  Eden 
as  Eve  was  Adam's  peer  in  the  first.  Then  shall  He  indeed 
proudly  present  her  to  Himself  as  His  Lady-elect,  even  the 
Church  glorious  and  holy,  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  blem- 
ish or  any  such  thing  (Eph.  v.  27).  Even  now,  in  view  of 
that  magnificent  certainty,  she  may  well  be  called  by  her 
Divine  Husband's  name — Christ,  Christian  :  Kvpi,o<;,  KvpiaKrj, 
Kirche,  Kirk,  Church.  Being  thus  one  with  Him  Who  is 
indeed  the  Lord,  she  also  herself  is  in  very  truth  Lordly, 
Heiress  to  the  Universe  by  a  double  right,  the  right  of 
Eden's  Image  Commission  and  Calvary's  Blood-sealed 
Charter.  O  Church  of  the  living  God,  betrothed  as  a 
chaste  Virgin  to  one  Husband,  even  Christ,  beware  lest  by 
any  means,  as  the  Serpent  beguiled  Eve  by  his  subtlety,  so 
your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  which 
is  in  Christ,  led  away  from  your  single-heartedness  toward 

Him  (2  Cor.  xi.  2,  3). 

Once  more :  as  there  was  but  one 
(c.)— As  but  One  ^(j^^^  and  One  Eve,  so  there  is  but  one 

Christ,   so    but   One    ^i     .  ,  -,  r-n         i  tt 

p..      I  Christ   and   one   Church.       How   mis- 

taken, how  egotistic,  how  sinful  the 
sanctity  of  Catherine  of  Alexandria,  and  Catherine  of  Si- 
enna, in  fancying  each  for  herself  that  she  was  the  spouse 
of  Christ !     No,  as  there  is  but  one  Bridegroom,  so  there  is 


240  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

but  one  Spouse.  And  that  Spouse  is  the  one  Church  of 
the  living  God,  of  whatever  hxnd  or  age  or  sect,  wlio  call 
upon  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both  theirs  and 
ours  (1  Cor.  i.  2).  Neither  Christ  nor  His  Church  is  a  Mon- 
strosity ;  neither  the  one  hydra-headed,  nor  the  other  hun- 
dred-bodied. Many  stones  indeed,  yet  but  one  Temple 
(Eph.  ii.  20-22) ;  many  branches,  yet  but  one  Yine  (John  xv.  5) ; 
many  sheep,  yet  but  one  Flock  and  one  Shepherd  (John  x.  16) ; 
many  members,  yet  but  one  body  (Rom.  xii.  4, 5) ;  many  para- 
nymphs,  or  virgins  (Matt.  xxv.  i-io),  yet  but  one  Bride.  Ay, 
Monogamy  is  the  law  alike  for  both  Edens.  "  I  beseech 
you  then,  dearly  beloved,  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  the  call- 
ing wherewith  ye  were  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness and  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love,  en- 
deavoring to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  There  is  one  Body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  were 
called  in  one  Hope  of  your  calling,  one  Lord,  one  Faith, 
one  Baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all.  Who  is  over  all 
and  through  all  and  in  all  (Eph.  iv.  1-6).  For  even  as  the 
body  is  one  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the  members 
of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is  Christ ; 
for  in  one  Spirit  we  were  all  baptized  into  one  Body, 
whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free ;  and  we 
were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit "  (i  Cor.  xii.  12, 13). 

"  Head  of  Thy  Church  beneath, 
The  catholic,  tlie  true, 
On  all  her  members  breathe, 
Her  broken  frame  renew ; 
Then  shall  Thy  perfect  will  be  done, 
When  Christians  love  and  live  as  one." 

— (RonmsoN.) 

Thus  was  the  marriage  in  the  Eden  that  has  been  the 
type  and  the  prophecy  of  the  Marriage  in  the  Eden  that  is 


GENESIS   OF   WOMAN.  241 

to  be.  That  was  the  symbol,  this  is  the  Substance ;  that 
the  passing  shadow,  this  the  abiding  Reality ;  that  the  para- 
ble, this  the  Interpretation.  Yes,  the  last  Adam  is  older 
than  the  first ;  the  Church  of  the  living  God  older  than  the 
Mother  of  all  living  (Gen.  iii.  20).  And  so  St.  Paul,  in  de- 
claring to  us  his  great  mystery  concerning  Christ  and  His 
Church — to  wit,  that  we  are  members  of  His  body,  being 
of  His  flesh  and  His  bones,  and  so  repeating  Adam's  own 
words  in  Eden — did  ever,  as  was  the  wont  of  his  own  Master, 
utter  things  which  had  been  ke23t  secret  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  (Matt.  xiii.  35).  Heaven  grant  that  these 
natural  relationships  of  ours  may  indeed  accomplish  in  us 
the  purpose  for  which  they  were  ordained  ;  namely,  to  train 
us  for  the  spiritual,  teaching  us  through  the  blessed  hints 
of  the  earthly  marriage  how  to  secure  a  share  in  the  True 
and  Everlasting  Bridal.  So  shall  we  be  ready  to  meet  the 
Bridegroom,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband 
(Rev.  xxi.  2).  So  shall  we  be  ready  for  the  Midnight  Cry, 
"  Lo,  the  Bridegroom  cometh  ! "  (Matt.  xxv.  6). 

And  thus  we  come  to  speak  of  that 

^'  T  '^^^^  ^"^^'  blessed  event :  the  Bridegroom's  prom- 
groom  s       Promisea    .      ,    -r>  -r-i  •     •  t       i 
jigturn.                     1^^^  Keturn.      .bor  now  it  is  only  the 

espousal  time,  the  Church's  secret  be- 
trothal as  a  pure  Virgin  to  Christ ;  then  shall  be  the  open, 
everlasting  Bridal,  even  the  Bridegroom's  joyous  presenta- 
tion of  the  Church  to  Himself  before  all  the  Universe  in 
all  her  unspeakable  beauty.  Then  shall  it  be  seen  that 
though  for  a  small  moment  He  had  forsaken  us,  it  was  that 
He  might  with  great  mercies  and  everlasting  kindness 
gather  us  (Is.  liv.  1).  Heaven  speed  that  blessed  hour !  Even 
now  may  it  be  ours  to  hear  as  it  were  the  voice  of  a  great 
multitude,  and  as  the  sound  of  many  waters,  and  as  the 
sound  of  mighty  thunderings,  saying,  "  Hallelujah  !  For 
11 


242  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth.  Let  ns  be  glad  and 
rejoice,  and  give  to  Him  the  glory.  For  the  Marriage  of 
the  Lamb  is  come,  and  His  Wife  hath  made  herself  ready. 
Blessed  are  they  who  are  called  to  the  Marriage  Supper  of 
the  Lamb  "  (Rev.  xix.  6-9). 

"  Ascend,  Beloved,  to  the  joy  ; 

The  festal  day  is  come : 
To-night  the  Lamb  doth  feast  His  ovrn. 
To-night  He  with  His  Bride  sits  down, 
To-night  puts  on  the  spousal  crown, 

In  the  great  upper  room. 

"  Sorrow  and  sighing  are  no  more. 
The  weeping  hours  are  past; 
To-night  the  waiting  will  be  done. 
To-night  the  wedding  robe  put  on. 
The  glory  and  the  joy  begun; 
The  crown  has  come  at  last. 

"  Ascend,  Beloved,  to  the  feast ; 
Make  haste.  Thy  day  is  come ; 
Thrice  blest  are  they  the  Lamb  doth  call. 
To  share  the  heavenly  festival, 
In  the  new  Salem's  palace  hall, 
Our  everlasting  home !  " — (Bonae.) 

Friends,  no  one  will  snp  with  Ilim 
The  Bolted  Door.        .^  ^^^^^^   ^^^^^   ^^^^  ^^^   ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^ 

sup  with  Him  on  earth.  Listen,  then,  again,  to  the  Bride- 
groom's knock :  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  ; 
if  any  one  hear  My  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in 
to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  Me  "  (Rev.  iii.  20). 
O  friend,  that  knocking  will  not  continue  forever.  Per- 
sist in  keeping  thy  door  closed,  and  thou,  too,  shalt  ere 
long  knock  at  a  closed  door.  "  While  they  went  to  buy, 
the  Bridegroom  came ;  and  they  who  were  ready  went  in 


GENESIS  OF  WOMAN.  243 

with  Him  to  the  Marriage-feast ;  and  the  door  was  shut. 
Afterward  came  also  the  other  virgins,  saying,  Lord,  Lord, 
open  to  us.  But  He  answered  and  said :  Yerily  I  say  unto 
you,  I  know  you  not "  (Matt.  xxv.  10-12). 

"  '  Late,  late,  so  late !  and  dark  the  night  and  chill ! 
Late,  late,  so  late !  but  we  can  enter  still.' 
'  Too  late,  too  late!  ye  cannot  enter  now.' 

"  '  No  light  had  we  :  for  that  we  do  repent ; 
And  learning  this,  the  Bridegroom  will  relent.' 
'  Too  late,  too  late  !  ye  cannot  enter  now.' 

"  '  No  light ;  so  late  !  and  dark  and  chill  the  niglit! 
Oh,  let  us  in,  that  we  may  find  the  light ! ' 
'  Too  late ;  too  late !  ye  cannot  enter  now.' 

"  '  Have  we  not  heard  the  Bridegroom  is  so  sweet  ? 
Oh,  let  us  in,  though  late,  to  kiss  His  feet !  ' 
'No,  no;  too  late  !  ye  cannot  enter  now.'  " 

— ("  Guinevere.") 

But  I  cannot  bear  to  close  so  sadly. 

The  Bridegroom's    t-x        xi,         xii-n-i  ^      1 

Qg^jj  Listen,  then,  to  the  Bridegroom's  cheery 

call :  "  The  voice  of  my  Beloved !  Be- 
hold, He  Cometh  leaping  upon  the  mountains,  skipping 
upon  the  hills.     My  Beloved  speaketh,  and  saith  unto  me : 

"Arise,  My  love.  My  fair  one,  and  come  away. 
For,  lo,  the  winter  is  past. 
The  rain  is  over,  and  gone ; 
The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth  ; 
The  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come. 
And  the  voice  of  the  turtle-dove  is  heard  in  our  land 
The  fig-tree  putteth  forth  her  green  figs. 
And  the  vines  in  blossom  give  forth  their  fragrance. 
Arise,  My  love,  My  fair  one,  and  come  away." 

—(Cant.  ii.  8-13.) 


244  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Yes,  Thoii  Bridegroom  of  tlie  Church,  we  will  arise 
and  follow  Thee  whithersoever  Thou  goest. 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUKE  XIIL 

GENESIS    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

"  Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host 
of  them.  And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  His  work  which  lie 
had  made ;  and  He  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  His  work 
which  He  had  made.  And  God  hlessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sancti- 
fied it :  because  that  in  it  He  had  rested  fi'ora  all  His  work  which  God 
created  and  made." — Genesis  ii.  1-3. 

I.— Explanation         FmsT  of  all,  let  ns  attend  to  the  Ex- 
of  the  Passage.        planation  of  the  Passage. 

And,  first,  the  Divine  Cessation  from 
1. -Cessation   of  Creative  Work:  "Thus  were  finished 

the  Creative  Process.    ,,      ,  ,    ,,  ,,  i     n  ,i     . 

the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  their 

host :   and  on  the  Seventh  Day  God  ended  His  Work 

Avhicli   He   made."      But  observe   precisely  the  kind  of 

activity  from  which  Deity  ceased  on  the  Seventh  Day  :  it 

was  not  the  activity  of  administration,  either  in  Providence 

or  in  Morals — our  Father  worketh  hitherto  (John  v.  IV) :  but 

it  was  the  activity  of  creating  :  "  God  ended  all  His  work 

which  He  created  in  making  it."     And  science  strikingly 

confirms  the  hoary  Archive.      However  much  scientists 

may  disagree  as  to  the  origin  of  the  universe,  or  the  age 

of  the  globe,  or  the  character  and  method  of  the  geologic 

processes,  or  the  antiquity  of  man,  they  all  agree  in  one 

point — to  wit :  Man  himself  was  the  last  to  appear  on  this 

earth's  stage. 


246  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Secondly:    The   Creator's   Resting, 
_   "T  ^^  "^     "  And  God  rested  on  the  Seventh  Day 

Resting.  •'' 

from  all  His  work  which  He  made." 

"  But  how  is  this  possible  ? "  you  ask  me.  "  Does  not 
resting  imply  fatigue,  weakness,  infirmity,  finiteness  ? 
Does  not  His  own  Book  declare :  '  The  everlasting  God, 
Jehovah,  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth  not, 
neither  is  weary '  (Is.  xl.  28)  ?  How,  then,  can  Infinite  God 
be  said  to  rest  ? "  Observe,  then,  first,  and  in  a  general 
way,  the  poverty  of  human  speech  and  human  thought 
when  Deity  is  the  theme.  How  can  the  finite  ever  take 
in  the  Infinite,  the  bounded  the  Boundless  ?  Infinite  God 
can  become  known  to  us  only  in  the  measures  of  human 
capacities,  through  the  interpretations  and  hints  of  human 
relations  and  feelings.  Hence,  all  our  thought  and  speech 
of  Him  is  and  must  be  in  imagery.  Hence  the  frequent 
Scripture  representations  of  Him  under  figures  of  human 
organs  and  affections :  e.  g.,  the  Hand  of  the  Lord,  the 
Eye  of  the  Lord,  the  Voice  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  did 
so  and  so,  etc.  To  speak  of  Him  as  having  these  human 
organs,  or  as  doing  this  and  that  thing  in  connection  with 
days  and  years,  or  any  human  notations  of  time,  is  to 
speak  of  Him  after  the  manner  of  men.  Nevertheless, 
we  cannot  conceive  Him  except  in  measures  of  our  own 
finiteness  :  and  so  we  are  forced  to  speak  of  Him,  as 
does  also  the  Scripture,  as  being  situate  in  Space  and  act- 
ing: in  Time.  Thus  we  talk  of  Him  as  creatine^  and  as 
resting,  of  His  Six  Days'  creative  working  and  His  Sev- 
enth Day's  Rest.  Not  that  it  was  absolutely  so,  but  that 
it  appears  so  to  us  in  our  finiteness.  God's  seeming  to 
rest  was  a  sign,  not  of  the  Creator's  fatigue,  but  of  His 
condescension  to  human  finiteness.  He  no  more  rested 
in  the  sense  of  taking  refreshment  than  He  uttered  the 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  247 

Creative  "  God-saids  "  in  audible  articulations,  or  breathed 
into  the  Man's  nostrils,  or  took  from  him  one  of  his 
ribs  and  turned  it  into  a  Woman.  But,  while  this  is 
tnie,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  even  God  may  be  said  to 
liave  rested :  it  was  the  rest  of  holy,  blessed,  festal  con- 
templation. The  work  of  creation  was  finished,  not  only 
in  the  sense  of  being  ended,  but  also  in  the  sense  of  being 
perfected.  Man's  works,  alas !  are  oftener  ended  than 
finished.  Twice  only  in  this  world  of  ours  has  that  word 
— "  Finished  " — been  used  in  absolute  truth  :  first,  in  the 
end  of  the  first  Creation,  when  the  Maker  of  heaven  and 
earth  had  created  the  Man  and  the  AYoman  in  His  owti 
image  and  likeness,  and  so  were  finished  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  and  all  their  host :  and  secondly,  in  the  end  of 
the  second  Creation,  when  the  same  Maker  of  heaven  and 
earth  restored  on  the  Cross  the  lost  image  and  likeness,  and 
so  exclaimed :  "  It  is  finished  !  "  (John  xix.  30).  And  how 
intense  must  have  been  the  Creator's  delight  as  He  sur- 
veyed His  finished  work,  and  pronounced  it  very  good ! 
Even  in  this  world  of  imperfections  and  failures,  where 
our  ideals  are  so  seldom  reached,  how  intense  the  deliglit, 
e.  g.,  the  artist  sometimes  feels  as  he  gazes  on  his  finished 
statue,  or  picture,  or  building !  He  not  only  ceases  from 
toil :  he  verily  rests — the  rest  not  of  repose,  but  of  joy. 
Even  so,  if  I  may  venture  to  compare  Creator  with  creat- 
ure, did  the  Maker  of  the  universe  rest  on  the  Seventh 
Day.  It  was  the  rest  of  a  holy,  festal  celebration  over  a 
perfected  work — a  perfect  filling-out  of  a  Divine  Ideal — 
an  absolute  equilibrium  of  Plan  and  Execution.  It  was 
the  Sabbath  of  God. 

Thirdly:  Tlie  Sanctification  of  the 


of'tb^Sabbath-Daj.    Seventh  Day:  "And  God  blessed  the 
Seventh  Day,  and  sanctified  it." 


248  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

"  And    God    blessed    tlie    Seventh 
(a.)—  even       e  j)j^y '?     ^^  q^q  familiar  with  the  Bible 

Scriptural  Number.  "^ 

can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  frequency 
with  which  it  mentions  the  number  seven.  Let  me  give 
some  instances.  Seven  days  was  Noah  allowed  in  which 
to  stock  his  ark  with  the  preservers  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom, and  of  each  kind  of  the  clean  animals  he  was  to  take 
seven  (Gen.  vii.  2-4).  Seven  days  elapsed  between  each  of 
the  three  missions  of  his  dove  (Gen.  viii.  8-12).  Seven  years 
did  Jacob  serve  for  Leah,  and  seven  more  for  Rachel 
(Gen.  xxix.  18-28).  Seven  well-favored  kine  and  seven  ill- 
favored,  seven  full  ears  of  corn  and  seven  blasted,  did 
Pharaoh  see  in  his  dreams :  seven  years  of  plenty  and 
seven  years  of  famine  did  Egypt  exj^erience  (Gen.  xli.). 
Seven  altars  did  BaJak  set  up,  and  thereon  offered  seven 
bullocks  and  seven  rams  (Num.  xxiii.  i,  2).  Seven  Avas  to  be 
the  aggregate  number  of  the  Holy  Convocations  of  the 
Hebrew  Year  (Lev.  xxiii.).  The  seventli  day  was  to  be  the 
Sabbath-day  :  the  seventh  week  after  Passover  the  Sabbatli- 
week  :  the  seventh  month  the  Sabbath-month  :  the  seventh 
year  the  Sabbath-year :  the  seven  times  seventh  year  the 
great  Sabbath- Year  of  the  Sabbath-years  :  i.  e,,  the  year  of 
Jubilee.  Seven  weeks  were  appointed  as  the  interval  be- 
tween Pentecost  and  Passover :  seven  days  as  the  length 
of  the  Feasts  of  Passover  and  Tabernacles  :  seven  days 
were  the  priests  to  be  in  course  of  consecration  :  seven 
things  were  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  :  seven  utensils  were 
to  be  the  indispensables  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  tlie  candle- 
stick was  to  be  seven-branched :  seven  days  were  appointed 
for  ceremonial  lustration,  and  for  the  interval  between 
birtli  and  circumcision.  Seven  was  the  number  in  com- 
pacts, in  treaties  of  peace,  in  marriage  settlements.  Seven 
is  solemnly  embalmed  in  the  Hebrew  term  for  oath,  the 


GENESIS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  249 

term  signifying  to  swear  literally  meaning  to  do  seven 
times.  Seven  days  was  Jericho  surrounded,  and  on  the 
seventh  day  it  was  surrounded  by  seven  priests  blowing 
seven  trumpets  (Josh.  \i.).  Seven  times  was  Naaman  bidden 
to  dip  himself  in  Jordan  (2  Kings  v.  9).  Seven  periods  were 
to  pass  over  Nebuchadnezzar  in  his  insanity  (Dan.  iv.).  In 
the  Restitution  the  light  of  the  Sun  is  to  be  sevenfold,  as 
the  light  of  seven  days  (Is.  xxx.  26),  Jesus  Christ  Himself 
was  the  seventy-seventh  from  Adam,  and  He  bids  us  for- 
give not  only  seven  times,  but  also  seventy  times  seven 
(Slatt.  xviii.  22).  Seven  deacons  were  appointed  by  the  infant 
church  (Acts  vi.).  Seven  is  the  Apocalyptic  numeral :  e.  g., 
the  seven  churches,  the  seven  spirits,  the  seven  candle- 
sticks, the  seven  stars,  the  seven  seals,  the  seven  horns,  the 
seven  eyes,  the  seven  angels,  the  seven  trumpets,  the  seven 
thundei*s,  the  seven  plagues,  the  seven  vials,  the  seven 
visions,  the  sevenfold  doxology  to  God  and  the  Lamb 
(Rev.  passim).  But  why  cite  more  ?  Holy  Scripture,  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation,  teems  with  this  mystic  numeral 
seven.  And  for  aught  we  know,  seven  is  still  the  Sym- 
bolic, Dominical  number  of  God's  Administration,  regu- 
lating the  whole  world's  history,  from  His  rest  on  the  Sev- 
enth Day  in  Eden  to  His  Church's  Rest  on  the  Seventh 
Day  in  the  Eden  to  come.  If  you  ask  me  why  the  Script- 
ure selects  this  numeral  seven,  as  its  favorite,  regent  num- 
ber, I  cannot  answer.  A  vast  amount  of  ingenuity  has 
been  spent  on  the  prol)lem,  but  I  have  never  met  with  any 
satisfactory  solution.  Perhaps  we  shall  understand  this, 
and  many  other  similar  riddles,  when  that  which  is  perfect 
is  come,  and  we  shall  no  longer  behold  as  in  a  glass  darklv, 
or  enigmatically,  but  face  to  face  (i  Cor.  xiii.  12).  Meantime, 
all  I  ask  you  to  observe  in  this  connection  is  this :  Seven 
is  the  tonic,  or  key-note,  of  the  scale  of  the  Hebrew  numera- 


250  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tion.  And  this  fact,  I  have  no  doubt,  is  owing  to  the 
venerable  circumstance  that  seven  was  the  completing, 
perfecting  number  of  the  Creative  Week. 

"  And  God  blessed  the  Seventh  Dav 

(6.)— The  Seventh  .  ..^    ,    ..  „      .-,     .    .      .  -,/ 

Day  Sanctified.  ^^^'^  sanctmed  it" — that  IS  to  saj,  He 

separated  it  from  the  other  Six  Days  of 
the  Creative  AYeek,  setting  it  apart,  distinguishing  it,  con- 
secrating it,  hallowing  it.  Not  that  He  made  the  Seventh 
Day  holy,  as  though  the  other  Six  Days  were  unholy ;  but 
He  made  the  Seventh  Day  peculiar,  as  though  the  other 
Six  Days  were  common.  He  made  it  sacred  by  resting  on 
it.  He  did  not  rest  on  the  Seventh  Day  because  it  was 
hallowed  ;  but  the  Seventh  Day  became  hallowed  because 
He  rested  on  it.  "  God  blessed  the  Seventh  Day,  and  hal- 
lowed it,  because  on  it  He  rested  from  all  His  work  which 
God  created  and  made."  It  is  the  colossal  plinth  on  which 
is  based  Sinai's  Fourth  Commandment :  "  Eemember  the 
Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and 
do  all  thy  work :  but  the  Seventh  Day  is  a  Sabbath  (a  Rest- 
day)  to  the  Lord  thy  God  :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any 
work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant, 
nor  thy  maid-servant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that 
is  within  thy  gates.  For  in  Six  Days  the  Lord  made  heaven 
and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the 
Seventh  Day :  wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath-day 
— (the  Rest-day)  and  hallowed  it"  (Ex.  xx.  8-11).  "What 
though  the  seven  days  of  the  Sinaitic  week  were  ordinary 
days  of  twenty-four  hours  each,  while  the  Seven  Days  of 
the  Creative  Week  were  extraordinary  days  of  indefinite 
length  ?  It  affects  not  the  reason  which  the  Lawgiver  as- 
signs for  observing  the  Seventh  Day  as  a  Sabbath.  That 
reason  is  based,  not  on  the  length  of  the  Days,  but  on  the 
fact  that  on  the  Seventh  of  the  Days,  whatever  their  length, 


GENESIS  OF  TUE  SABBATH.  251 

the  Creator  rested.  And  that  Seventh  Day  of  the  Crea- 
tive Week  still  continues.  Although  thousands  of  years 
have  swept  by  since  God  ended  His  work  of  Creation,  it 
is  still  His  Sabbath,  or  Rest-day.  Works  of  necessity — i. 
e.,  works  of  providence  and  mercy — He  still  carries  on  : 
"My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work"  (John  v.  17). 
But  Creation  is  not  a  work  of  necessity.  That  work  He 
ended  at  the  close  of  the  far-off  Sixth  Day,  and  ever  since 
has  rested.  This,  in  fact,  is  the  underlying  thought  of  the 
fourth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  argu- 
ment of  the  chapter,  in  brief,  is  this  :  "  God  as  Creator  is 
resting  from  His  works ;  let  us  take  care  lest,  a  promise 
being  left  us  of  entering  into  His  rest,  any  of  us  should 
seem  to  come  short  of  it."  There  are,  then,  three  Great 
Sabbaths :  iirst,  the  Ionian  Sabbath  of  God,  resting  from 
His  Creative  Work  ;  secondly,  the  weekly  Sabbath  of  Man, 
resting  from  his  six  days  of  toil ;  and,  thirdly,  the  eternal 
Sabbath  of  Heaven,  even  the  Rest,  the  Sabbatismos,  which 
still  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God  (Heb.  iv.  9). 

"  "When  will  mv  pilgrimage  be  done^ 
The  world's  long  week  be  o'er, 
That  Sabbath  dawn  which  needs  no  sun, 
That  Day  which  fades  no  more  ?  " 

— (Edmeston.) 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  Genesis  of  the  Sabbath.     As 

such,  the  Sabbath  comes  doAvn  to  us  venerable  in  all  the 

hoariness  of  an  immemorial  antiquity,  and  imperial  with 

all  the  sceptredom  of  the  Creator's  example. 

But  there  is  a  second  account  of  the 

.  ."•~?^e*??''r  Genesis  of  the  Sabbath,  to  which  I  now 
trme  of  the  Sabbath.    .      .  ,•  i    ^i      i-  -nr-i 

invite  your  most  careful  attention.    JNlil- 

lenniums  after  our  Sacred  Chronicler  caught  glimpse  of  the 


253  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

resting  Creator,  tliat  Creator  Himself,  having  been  bom 
of  woman,  and  walking  in  the  cornfields  of  Galilee,  an- 
nounced :  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath  ;  tlierefore,  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also 
of  the  Sabbath"  (Mark ii. 23-28).  It  is  one  of  the  profouud- 
cst  sayings  of  Him  Who  always  spake  profoundly.  Let 
us  now  give  to  the  saying  our  most  studious  and  reverent 
attention.     We  learn  from  it — 

First :  Man  himself  is  the  Basis  of 
f  '    '  , ,   ,,  the  Sabbath.      "  The  Sabbath-day  for 

of  the  Sabbath.  -^ 

Man  was  made,  and  not  Man  for  the 
Sabbath-day  " — that  is  to  say,  the  Sabbath,  like  any  other 
Divine  institution  or  ordinance,  whether  in  Nature  or  in 
Morals,  was  appointed  on  Man's  account,  for  Man's  bene- 
fit, and  not  vice  versa.     Let  us  go  a  little  into  detail. 

(rt.)_Man  Needs  And,  first,  Man  needs  the  Sabbath — 
the  Sabbath  for  his  i.  e..  One  day  of  rest  after  six  days  of 
Secular  Nature.  ^qjj — fQj.  jjjg  secular  nature,  alike  bodily 

and  mental.  The  testimony  of  physicians,  pliysiologists, 
political  economists,  managers  of  industrial  establishments, 
etc.,  is  emphatic  on  this  point.  Let  me  cite  some  instances. 
Dr.  John  William  Draper,  the  eminent  physicist  and  author, 
writes  as  follows  :  "  Out  of  the  numberless  blessings  con- 
ferred on  our  race  by  the  Church,  the  physiologist  may  be 
permitted  to  select  one  for  remark,  which,  in  an  eminent 
manner,  has  conduced  to  our  physical  and  moral  well-being. 
It  is  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath-day.  .  .  .  No  man  can 
for  any  length  of  time  pursue  one  avocation  or  one  train 
of  thought  without  mental,  and  therefore  bodily,  injuiy — 
nay,  without  insanity.  The  constitution  of  the  brain  is 
such  that  it  must  have  its  time  of  repose.  Periodicity  is 
stamped  upon  it.  Nor  is  it  enough  that  it  is  awake  and  in 
action  by  day,  and  in  the  silence  of  night  obtains  rest  and 


GENESIS   OF   THE   SABBATH.  353 

repair ;  that  same  periodicity,  whicli  belongs  to  it  as  a 
whole,  belongs  to  all  its  constituent  parts.  One  portion  of 
it  cannot  be  called  into  incessant  activity  without  the  risk 
of  injury.  Its  different  regions,  devoted  to  different  func- 
tions, must  have  their  separate  times  of  rest.  The  excite- 
ment of  one  part  must  be  coincident  with  a  pause  in  the 
action  of  another.  It  is  not  possible  for  mental  equilib- 
rium to  be  maintained  with  one  idea,  or  one  monotonous 
mode  of  life.  .  .  .  Thus  a  kind  Providence  so  overrules 
events  that  it  matters  not  in  w^hat  station  we  may  be, 
wealthy  or  poor,  intellectual  or  lowly,  a  refuge  is  always 
at  hand ;  and  the  mind,  worn  out  with  one  thing,  turns  to 
another,  and  its  physical  excitement  is  followed  by  physi- 
cal  repose"    ("Human  Physiology,"  page  627).       Lord    Macaulay, 

in  his  speech  before  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  Ten 
Hours'  Bill,  spoke  thus  :  "  The  natural  difference  between 
Campania  and  Spitzbergen  is  trifling  when  compared  with 
the  difference  between  a  country  inhabited  by  men  full  of 
mental  and  bodily  vigor,  and  a  country  inhabited  by  men 
sunk  in  bodily  and  mental  decrepitude.  Therefore  it  is 
we  are  not  poorer,  but  richer,  because  we  have,  through 
many  ages,  rested  from  our  labors  one  day  in  seven.  That 
day  is  not  lost.  While  industry  is  suspended,  while  the 
plough  lies  in  the  furrow,  while  the  Exchange  is  silent, 
while  no  smoke  ascends  from  the  factory,  a  process  is  going 
on  quite  as  important  to  the  wealth  of  nations  as  any  pro- 
cess which  is  performed  on  more  busy  days.  Man,  the 
machine  of  machines — the  machine  compared  with  which 
all  the  contrivances  of  the  "SYatts  and  the  Arkwi*ights  are 
worthless — is  repairing  and  winding  up,  so  that  he  returns 
to  his  labors  on  the  Monday  with  clearer  intellect,  with  live- 
lier spirits,  with  renewed  corporeal  vigor "  ("  Speeches,"  vol. 
ii.,  page  28).    Thus  the  Sal)batli  is  the  detent,  or  "  ratchet  in 


254  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  wheel  of  life,"  by  regular  interpositions  of  which  life's 
machinery  is  prevented  from  turning  back,  and  so  failing. 
To  him  who  has  been  toiling  the  six  days,  how  sweetly  does 
the  Sabbath  come  as  a  day  of  repair  for  his  jaded  body, 
and  of  restful  change  for  his  weary  brain  !  Now  may  the 
stiffened  fingers — which  all  the  week  have  been  grasping 
the  plane,  the  awl,  the  crowbar,  the  type,  the  needle,  the 
pen — be  loosened  ;  and  the  cramped  back,  which  has  been 
wearily  bending  over  spade  or  bench,  anvil  or  ledger,  be 
uplifted ;  and  the  tethered  intellect,  which  has  been  ab- 
sorbed in  guiding  the  movements  of  hand  or  foot,  be  set 
free  to  expatiate  at  will  amid  the  serene  grandeurs  of 
Truth,  whether  written  on  the  pages  of  Scripture  or  Na- 
ture. Thus  the  Sabbath,  surveyed  as  a  compensation  reser- 
voir, is  as  much  a  constituent  part  of  the  economy  of  Na- 
ture as  are  the  nutritive  organs  and  processes,  or  the  alterna- 
tion of  day  and  niglit.  Well  may  it  be  called  a  Sabbath — i. 
e.,  Kest.  And  here,  let  me  remark  in  passing,  and  here  only, 
is  the  proper  sphere  of  Sabbath  legislation.  Society  has 
the  right  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  on  the 
ground  of  the  public  weal — that  is  to  say,  on  sanitary, 
economic,  and  social  grounds.  But  society  has  no  right 
to  enforce  it  on  religious  grounds.  The  State  must  not 
be  permitted  at  this  point,  or  at  any  other,  to  invade  the 
empire  of  conscience.  If  we  allow  it  to  interfere  at  the 
point  of  Sabbath  observance,  we  may  allow  it  to  interfere 
at  any  other  point,  say  the  Trinity,  or  Baptism,  or  the  Sec- 
ond Advent.  We  believe  in  the  Church,  we  believe  in 
the  State  ;  but  we,  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  do  not  believe 
in  Church  and  State,  or  a  State  Church.  We  j)ut  not  our 
confidence  in  princes  (Psalm  cxtIu.  9),  nor  go  down  to  Egypt 
for  help,  nor  rely  on  chariots  because  they  are  many,  nor 
trust  in  horsemen  because  they  are  strong  fis.  xxxi.  i).     Not 


GENESIS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  255 

bj  miglit,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  (Zech.  iv.  6).' 

(fi.)  —  Man  Needs  Again  :  Man  needs  the  Sabbath  for 
the  Sabbath  for  his  hls  relij^ioiis  nature.  He  needs  it  as  a 
Religious  Nature.  j^y  of  conscious,  formal,  stately  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  Divine  Supremacy.  He  needs  it  as  a 
day  on  which  to  dismiss  wordly  cares,  and  look  through 
unobstructed  vistas  into  the  opening  heavens.  An  English 
gentleman  was  once  inspecting  a  house  in  Newcastle,  with 
a  view  of  buying  it.  The  landlord,  after  having  shown 
him  the  premises,  took  him  to  an  upper  window,  and  re- 
marked ;  "  You  can  see  Durham  Cathedral  from  this  win- 
dow on  Sundays."  "How  is  this?"  asked  the  visitor. 
"  Because  on  Sundays  there  is  no  smoke  from  the  factory 
chimneys."  Ah,  Man  must  have  a  day  in  which  he  can 
retire  to  some  solitude,  where  his  spirit — 

"  With  her  best  nurse,  Contemplation, 
May  plume  her  feathers,  and  let  grow  her  wings, 
That  in  the  various  bustle  of  resort 
Were  all  too  ruffled,  and  sometimes  impaired." 

— ("  COMTTS.") 

And  how  exquisitely  the  Sabbath  meets  Man's  necessity ! 
The  hushed  bustle  and  din  of  life,  the  vacated  Exchange, 
the  closed  factory,  the  barricaded  shop,  the  arrested  en- 
gine, the  neatly-attired  population,  walking  -with  subdued 

'  The  recent  prosecution  in  Pennsylvania  of  the  estimable  Daniel  C.  Waldo,  a  Seventh- 
Day  Baptist,  for  workinjj  on  Sunday,  although  he  had  scrupulously  obeyed  the  letter  of  the 
Fourth  Commandment,  is  not  only  a  blot  on  our  administration  of  justice,  but  also  a 
violation  of  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  American  theory  of  the  State, 
namely:  Keliu:ious  Liberty,  or  Rifihts  of  Personal  Conscience.  How  clear  and  rinffinff 
the  words  of  the  English  exiles  of  Amsterdam,  published  about  lfil'2:  "The  magistrate  is 
not  to  meddle  with  rclitrion,  or  matters  of  conscience,  nor  to  compel  men  to  this  or  that 
form  of  religion,  because  Christ  is  the  Kin?,  and  Lawgiver  of  the  Church  and  Conscience  " 
("  Works  of  John  Robinson,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  2T7).  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  Anothers  ser- 
vant ?    To  his  own  Master  ho  staadeth  or  fdleth  (Rom.  xiv.  i). 


256  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tread  the  tranquil  street,  or  strolling,  with  chaste  buoyancy, 
the  odorous  grove,  the  deep-toned  bell,  the  open  Sanctuary, 
the  subdued  yet  blithesome  hum  of  Sunday-school,  the 
voice  of  prayer  and  Scriptural  reading,  the  uplifting  ser- 
mon, the  melody  of  hymn  and  chant — these  are  the  angel 
voices  which  invite  to  restful  worship.  And  these  the 
Sabbath  gives.  Looping  down,  hke  celestial  festoons  from 
the  throne  of  God,  at  regularly  recurring  intervals  along 
the  highway  of  life,  each  recurring  Sabbath  invites  the 
caravan  of  humanity  to  halt  for  a  few  hours,  that  it  may 
gaze  up,  with  worshipful  vision,  into  the  opened  heavens. 

"Bright  shadows  of  true  Rest!     Some  shoots  of  bliss: 

Heaven  once  a  week  : 
The  next  world  prepossessed  in  this: 

A  day  to  seek 
Eternity  in  time :  the  steps  by  which 
We  climb  above  all  ages:  lamps  that  light 
Man  through  his  heap  of  dark  days :  and  the  rich 
And  full  redemption  of  the  whole  week's  flight: 
The  milky-way  chalk'd  out  with  suns :  a  clew 
That  guides  through  erring  hours:  and  in  full  story 
A  taste  of  Heaven  on  earth :  the  pledge  and  cue 
Of  a  full  feast :  and  the  outconrts  of  Glory." 

— (Henry  Vaughan.) 

Thus  Man  is  the  basis  of  the  Sabbath  :  the  Sal)bath  was 
made  for  him,  not  he  for  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  him  as  much  as  is  light,  or  air,  or  food. 

(c.)_The  Sabbath  -^^^  what  Man  needs,  God  has  ap- 
a  Divhie  Appoint-  pointed.  Witness  the  Fourth  Com- 
'"cnt.  mandment.      True,    this    passage,    al- 

though a  part  of  the  Decalogue,  is  not  to  be  taken  as 
though  it  settled  for  all  men,  and  all  time,  the  question  of 
the  origin,  the  basis,  or  the  authority,  of  the  Sabbath. 
For  although  the  Decalogue,  in  its  spirit,  is  for  all  lands 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  357 

and  ages,  yet,  in  its  letter,  it  was  evidently  for  the  He- 
brews. The  very  preamble  proves  the  assertion :  "  God 
spake  all  these  words,  saying :  '  I  am  Jehovah  thy  God, 
"Who  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out 
of  the  house  of  bondage ' "  (Ex.  xx.  i,  2),  Then  follow  the 
Ten  Commandments,  based  on  the  unique  fact  that  Jeho- 
vah was  the  Covenant  God  of  Israel.  The  Fifth  Com- 
mandment is  a  striking  evidence  of  the  Jewish  character 
of  the  Decalogue :  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother : 
that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the  land  which  Jehovah 
thy  God  giveth  thee"  (Ex.  xx.  12):  i.  e.,  that  thou  mayest 
live  long  in  the  Canaan  whither  thou  art  going.  And 
when  we  turn  to  the  second  account  of  the  Decalogue,  as 
recorded  in  Deuteronomy,  we  find  that  the  very  reason 
assigned  for  the  Fourth  Commandment  is  the  gracious 
fact  of  Israel's  Emancipation :  "  Kemember  that  thou  wast 
a  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  that  Jehovah  thy  God 
brought  thee  out  thence  by  a  mighty  hand  and  by  a 
stretched-out  arm :  therefore  Jehovah  thy  God  command- 
ed thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath-day"  (Dcut.  v.  12-15).  Indeed 
God  directs  Moses  to  teach  Israel  that  the  Sabbath  was 
appointed  as  a  covenant  sign  between  Jehovah  and  Israel, 
and  as  such  a  badge  of  the  Jewish  Nationality  :  "  Jehovah 
spake  to  Moses,  saying :  '  Speak  thou  also  to  the  children 
of  Israel,  saying :  "  Yerily  My  Sabbaths  ye  shall  keep ;  for 
it  is  a  sign  between  Me  and  you  throughout  your  genera- 
tions :  that  ye  may  know  that  I  am  Jehovah  Who  doth 
sanctify  you  "  '  "  (Ex.  xxxi.  12-17).  And,  nine  hundred  years 
afterward,  the  declaration  is  echoed  by  the  prophet  Eze- 
kiel  (Ezck.  XX.  12-20).  And  when  we  turn  to  the  New  Tes- 
tament, the  Jewish  character  of  the  Sinaitic  Sabbath  be- 
comes still  more  evident.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the 
only  full  twenty-four  hours  which  the  Lord  of  All  spent 


258  STUDIES  IN  THE  CREATIVE  WEEK. 

in  the  tomb  was  the  Seventh  Day,  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Decalogne,  the  Hebrew  Sabbath.     Indeed,  if  we  base  the 
Sabbath  on  the  Decalogue,  I  do  not  see  but  that  we  are 
bound  to  keep  Saturday,  inflict  the  Mosaic  penalty  of  death 
for  Sabbath-breaking,  keep  Passover  and  Day  of  Atone- 
ment, and  turn  our  churches  into  sacrificial  slaughter-houses. 
Moreover :  the  Apostohc  disregard  of  the  Mosaic  Sabbath 
is  strikingly  significant,  especially  when  we  remember  that 
by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  early  Christians  were 
converts  from  heathenism,  and  therefore  needed  special 
instruction  in  the  matter  of  the   Sabbath.     The  Aj^ostle 
Paul  was  wont  to  insist  on  a  strict  observance  of  all  practi- 
cal duties,  often  mentioning  them  in  detail ;  and  yet  in  all 
his  extant  Letters  there  is  but  one  solitary  allusion  to  the 
Sabbath,  and  even  then  he  classifies  it  with  the  ceremonial 
observances  which  had  been  abolished  :  "  Let  no  one  judge 
you  in  eating  or  in  drinking  (i.  e.,  call  you  to  account  in 
the  matter  of  ceremonial  distinctions  of  clean  and  unclean 
food),  or  in  respect  of  a  feast-day,  or  new  moon,  or  Sab- 
bath :  which  are  a  shadow  of  the  things  to  come ;  but  the 
body  —  the  substance — is  of  Christ"  (Col.  ii.  16,  17).'     All 
this  shows  that  the  Sinaitic  Sabbath,  or  the  Sabbath  as  an 
ordinance  in  the  letter,  was  Jewish  ;  and,  as  such,  local  and 
temporary.    On  the  other  hand,  the  Sabbath  as  a  necessity, 
or  Nature's  Sabbath,  is  Human,  and,  as  such,  as  universal 
and  abiding  as  Man.    The  moment  that  the  Son  of  Man — 
even  the  Lawgiver  greater  than  Moses — speaks,  saying: 
"  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  Man,  and  not  Man  for  the 
Sabbath  : "  we  feel  that  He  speaks,  not  as  a  Jew  to  Jews, 
but  as  the  Divine  Man  to  Men,  instantly  raising  the  Sab- 

'  Perhaps  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  Sabbath  in  Rom.  xiv.  5:  "One  man  estecmeth  one 
day  above  another,  another  esteemeth  every  day  alilcc.  Let  each  one  be  fully  persuaded  in 
his  own  mind."  That  is  to  say:  it  is  a  question  in  casuistry,  and  each  one  must  decide  It 
for  himself,  as  in  the  presence  of  God. 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  259 

bath  from  a  Jewish  ordinance  to  a  human  necessity.  And 
observe  the  authority  which  Christ  quotes  :  it  is  not  Moses, 
but  Man ;  not  Scripture,  but  Nature.  The  Sabbath  is  in 
the  Decalogue ;  but  it  is  there  because  it  was  before  in 
Nature,  and  the  Jew  was  a  man.  Thus  Nature  and  Script- 
ure are  in  alliance :  the  one  demanding  a  Sabbath,  and  the 
other  appointing  it. 

But  Christ's  Doctrine  of  the  Sabbath 
th  n  th  Sabbath  teaches  a  second  lesson ;  it  is  this  :  Man 
is  greater  than  the  Sabbath.  "  There- 
fore, so  that,  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath." 
Observe  the  phrase — "  Son  of  Man."  AYithout  staying  to 
unfold  this  plirase  with  theological  accuracy,  let  it  be 
enough  that  I  use  it  as  expressing,  in  outline,  the  tmth 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Representative  and  Exemplar  of 
Humanity — the  Archetypal  Man.  As  Divine,  or  the  Son 
of  God,  of  coarse  He  was  Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
point  is  that  He  is  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  as  human,  as  the 
Son  of  Man.  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  Man  :  therefore 
the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  of  the  Sabbath."  In  other  words : 
the  Sabbath  is  to  be  used  as  a  means,  not  as  an  end.  This 
the  Rabbis  could  not  imderstand.  They  utterly  failed  to 
grasp  this  majestic  word — Man.  Man  is  Man,  not  because 
he  is  strong — ^the  elephant  is  strong;  not  because  he  is 
ingenious — the  beaver  is  ingenious ;  not  because  he  is  af- 
fectionate— the  dog  is  affectionate  ;  but  because  he  is  God's 
Inbreathing,  God's  Image,  God's  Son  (Gen.  i.  26,  ii.  1 ;  Luke 
iii.  38).  As  such,  Man  is  God's  heir,  and  Christ's  joint  heir, 
and  so  the  Lord  of  all. 

"  Thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower  than  God, 
And  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honor: 

Thou  make^t  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  Thy  hands, 
Thou  dost  put  all  things  under  his  feet ; 


260  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Sheep  and  oxen,  all  of  them, 

Yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field. 

The  birds  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea, 

Whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas." 

— (Psalm  viii.  5-8.) 

That  is  to  say :  Man,  as  God's  Son  and  Image  and  Eep- 
resentative,  is  the  end,  and  the  Sabbath,  like  every  other 
"  ordinance,"  is  a  means.  An  immortal  being,  outliving 
institutions,  economies,  aeons — capable  of  carrying  a  heaven 
within  him — God's  own  Image  and  Son:  Man  is  more 
sacred  than  ordinances.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  die  for  ordi- 
nances :  Jesus  Christ  died  for  Man.  The  Sabbath  is  sa- 
cred, not  in  itself,  but  because  Man  is  sacred.  Hence  the 
Sabbath  is  his  servant — not  his  master.  He  is  the  Lord  of 
the  Sabbath.  And  in  accordance  with  this  principle  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  ever  acted.  E.  g.,  do  the  Pharisees  charge 
His  disciples  with  Sabbath-breaking,  because,  as  they  were 
passing  through  the  grain-fields  on  a  certain  Sabbath,  they 
plucked  in  their  hunger  some  of  the  ears,  rubbing  them 
with  their  hands,  and  eating  ?  The  Lord  makes  defense 
by  a  threefold  citation  from  their  own  Scriptures.  First, 
He  reminds  them  of  the  case  of  King  David :  "  Have  ye 
never  read  what  David  did,  when  he  and  they  who  Avere 
with  liim  were  hungry,  how  he  went  into  the  House  of 
God,  in  the  days  of  Abiathar  the  high-priest,  and  took  and 
ate  the  shew-bread,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  one  to 
eat,  but  the  priests  alone,  and  also  gave  it  to  those  who 
were  witli  him  ? "  (i  Sam.  xxi.  i-6.)  The  Lord's  argument  is 
this :  "  "What  though  a  law  of  Moses  forbids  laymen  eating 
of  the  priest's  shew-bread  ?  David  and  his  comrades  were 
men,  and  they  were  hungry,  and  Man  is  greater  than  ordi- 
nances." Next  He  reminds  them  of  the  case  of  their  own 
priests :  "  Or  have  ye  not  read  in  the  Law  that  on  the  Sab- 


GENESIS. OF   THE   SABBATH.  201 

bath  the  priests  in  the  temple  profane  the  Sabbath,  and  are 
blameless  ?  But  I  say  unto  you  that  a  Greater  than  the 
temple  is  here  !  "  And  His  argument  is  this  :  "  AVhat 
though  the  Law  forbids  all  manner  of  work  on  the  Seventh 
Day  ?  The  priests,  in  carrying  on  their  ministrations,  are 
compelled  to  toil  on  the  Sabbath.  Yet  they  are  not  to 
blame :  for  ye  need  their  ministrations,  and  Man  is  greater 
than  temple  and  Sabbath."  Once  more  :  He  reminds  them 
of  a  weighty  saying  of  one  of  their  own  Prophets :  "  But 
if  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth — '  I  desire  mercy,  and 
not  sacrifice '  (Hosca  vi.  6) — ^ye  would  not  have  condemned 
the  guiltless."  And  His  argument  is  this :  "  Hosea  him- 
self declares  that  when  Mercy  comes  into  collision  with 
ritual,  so  that  the  one  or  the  other  must  yield,  God  prefers 
the  Mercy  to  the  ritual.  Now  if  ye  really  had  understood 
this  saying  of  the  Prophet,  ye  would  never  have  con- 
demned My  disciples  for  satisfying  their  hunger  on  the 
Sabbath.  For,  as  Man  is  greater  than  institutions,  so  Mercy 
is  greater  than  rubric."  Then  follows  the  passage  setting 
forth  Christ's  Genesis  of  the  Sabbath :  "  And  He  said  to 
them :  '  The  Sabbath  for  Man  was  made,  and  not  Man  for 
the  Sabbath  :  therefore  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  even  of  the 
Sabbath '  "  (Matt.  xii.  i-8).  Again :  On  another  Sabbath,  as 
He  was  teaching  in  one  of  the  synagogues  of  Galilee,  a  man 
was  present  whose  right  hand  was  withered.  And  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  watching  whether  He  would 
heal  on  the  Sabbath,  that  they  might  find  an  accusation 
against  Him.  But  He  knew  their  thoughts  :  and  He  said 
to  the  man  having  the  withered  hand  :  "  Pise,  and  stand 
up  in  the  midst ! "  And  he  arose,  and  stood  up.  And 
Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  I  ask  you  whether  it  is  lawful  on  the 
Sabbath  to  do  good,  or  to  do  evil  ?  to  save  life,  or  to  kill  ? " 
But  they  were  silent.     And  He  said  to  them :  "  "Wlio  of 


262  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREA.TIVE   WEEK. 

you  that  owneth  one  sheep,  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sab- 
bath, \dll  not  lay  hold  of  it,  and  to  lift  it  out  ?  Of  how 
much  more  worth  now  is  a  Man  than  a  sheep  ?  So  then  it 
is  lawful  to  do  well  on  the  Sabbath."  And,  looking  round 
on  them  with  anger,  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their 
hearts.  He  saith  to  the  man :  "  Stretch  forth  thy  hand ! " 
And  he  stretched  it  forth,  and  his  hand  was  restored. 
And  the  Pharisees  were  filled  with  madness,  and  went 
forth,  and  immediately  held  a  consultation  with  the  He- 
rodians  against  Him,  how  they  might  destroy  Him  (Matt.  xU. 
9-14).  Again  :  On  still  another  Sabbath  Jesus  was  teaching 
in  one  of  the  synagogues  of  the  Perea.  And,  lo,  a  woman 
was  there  who  had  had  a  spirit  of  infirmity  eighteen  years  : 
and  she  was  bent  together,  and  wholly  unable  to  lift  her- 
self up.  And  Jesus,  seeing  her,  called  to  her,  and  said : 
"  TVoman,  thou  art  released  from  thy  infirmity."  And  He 
laid  His  hands  on  her,  and  immediately  she  stood  upright, 
and  gave  glory  to  God.  But  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue, 
being  filled  with  indignation  because  Jesus  had  wrought  a 
cure  on  the  Sabbath-day,  said  to  the  multitude :  "  There 
are  eix  days  in  which  it  is  proper  to  work  :  in  these  there- 
fore come  and  be  healed,  and  not  on  the  Sabbath-day." 
But  the  Lord  answered  him  and  said :  "  Hypocrites,  doth 
not  each  of  you  on  the  Sabbath  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from 
the  stall,  and  lead  him  away  and  water  him  ?  And  oucrht 
not  this  woman,  a  daughter  of  Abraham,  whom  Satan  hath 
bound,  lo,  these  eighteen  years,  to  be  loosed  from  her  bond 
on  the  Sabbath-day  ?  "  And  when  He  had  said  these  things, 
all  His  adversaries  were  ashamed  (Luke  liu.  lO-iT).  Again  : 
On  a  certain  Sabbath  Jesus  was  dining  with  one  of  tlie 
chief  men  of  the  Pharisees.  And,  lo,  there  was  a  certain 
man  present  who  had  the  dropsy.  And  they  were  watch- 
ing Him.     But  Jesus  knew  their  thoughts,  and,  answering, 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  263 

spake  to  the  lawyers  and  Pharisees,  saying :  "  Is  it  lawful 
to  heal  on  the  Sabbath-day  or  not  ?  "  But  they  held  their 
peace.  And,  taking  hold  of  him,  He  healed  him,  and  sent 
him  away.  And  He  answered  them  and  said  :  "  Who  is 
there  of  you,  who,  if  his  ass  or  his  ox  fall  into  a  pit,  will 
not  straightway  pull  him  out  on  the  Sabbath-day  ? "  And 
they  could  make  no  answer  to  this  (Luke  xiv.  i-6).  Once 
more  :  On  a  certain  occasion,  when  Jesus  was  in  Jerusalem, 
He  found  lying  by  the  Pool  of  Bethesda  an  impotent  man, 
who  had  had  his  infirmity  thirty-eight  years,  and  He  said 
to  him  :  "  Pise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk  !  "  And  straight- 
way the  man  was  cured,  and  took  up  his  bed  and  walked. 
But  it  happened  that  the  day  on  which  this  miracle  was 
wrought  was  the  Sabbath.  The  Jews  therefore  were  hor- 
ror-struck, and  said  to  the  man  that  had  been  cured  :  "  It 
is  the  Sabbath-day !  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  carry  thy 
bed."  Jesus,  in  self-justification,  replied:  "My  Father 
worketh  hitherto — is  working  even  until  now,  and  I  work." 
And  on  this  account  the  Jews  pei-secuted  Jesus,  and  sought 
to  kill  Him,  because  He  did  these  things  on  the  Sabbath- 
day  (John  V.  1-18).  Months  afterward,  in  refemng  to  this 
cure,  He  justified  Himself  on  the  ground  that  rubric  must 
yield  to  mercy — ordinances  to  men :  "  I  have  done  one 
work,  and  ye  are  all  wondering.  Moses  gave  to  you  cir- 
cumcision, and  ye  on  the  Sabbath  circumcise  a  man.  If  a 
man  on  the  Sabbath-day  receive  circumcision,  that  the  law 
of  Moses  may  not  be  broken,  are  ye  angry  at  Me,  because 
I  made  a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the  Sabbath-day  ? " 
(John  vii.  21-24.)  In  other  words  :  If  the  Sabbath  must  yield 
to  man  in  the  case  of  the  mutilating  rite  of  circumcision, 
how  much  more  ought  it  to  yield  to  man  in  the  case  of  re- 
storing soundness  to  his  whole  body !  In  view  of  these 
instances  of  Christ's  teaching  and  practice,  how  resistless 


264  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  conviction  that  He  believed  that  Man  is  greater  than 
the  Sabbath  !  And  yet  He  did  not  mean  to  diminish  the 
obligation  of  the  Sabbath :  He  meant  only  to  emancipate 
it  from  the  thrall  of  Pharisaic  sanctimoniousness  and  super- 
stition. He  destroyed  not  the  Sabbath,  but  brought  out 
its  real  meaning :  and  so  in  deepest  sense  He  kept  the 
Sabbath.  God  for  evermore  avert  the  day  when  the  Ameri- 
can Sabbath  degenerates  into  the  European ! 

From  what  has  been  said,  we  cannot 
3.-ThetrueMeth-  ^^^i  ^^  j^f^j.  ^^^  ^^^^^  Method  of  Keep- 
Sabbath  ^^S  *^^  Sabbath :  it  is  to  be  kept  in  such 
a  way  as  will  unfold  Man  heavenward 
the  most  thoroughly,  totally,  symmetrically.  Thus  :  Being 
made  for  Man,  the  Sabbath  must  be  used  religiously  :  for 
the  capacity  for  religion  is  Man's  chief  definition.  The 
Sabbath  must  be  kept  in  homage  of  God,  in  the  study  of 
His  Word  and  Character  and  Will,  in  the  spirit  of  worship, 
private  and  public.  But  full  unfolding  of  Man's  spiritual  na- 
ture is  possible  only  in  the  sphere  of  Edification,  or  Society- 
building.  The  Sabbath  summons  man  to  conjugate  life  in 
a  new  mood  and  tense  ;  but  still  in  tlie  active  voice.  And 
here  the  Son  of  Man  is  our  Teacher  and  blessed  Model. 
How  many  of  His  healings  and  works  of  mercy  were 
wrought  on  the  Sabbath-day !  And  what  is  man's  office 
in  this  fallen,  sorrowful  world,  but  a  ministry  of  healing? 
And  healing,  or  edification,  is  the  highest  form  of  wor- 
ship. Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  it.  True,  it  is  right 
and  necessary  that  we  engage  in  forms  and  acts  of  devotion, 
going  to  the  House  of  God  with  the  voice  of  joy  and  praise, 
with  the  multitude  keeping  holyday  (Ps.  xlii.  4).  Neverthe- 
less, this  is  the  minor  part  of  worsliip.  Is  not  this  the  fast, 
the  service,  the  liturgy,  which  God  hath  chosen — to  loosen 
the  bands  of  wickedness,  to  undo  tlic  heavy  burdens,  to  let 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  265 

the  oppressed  go  free,  to  break  every  yoke,  to  deal  tliy 
bread  to  tlie  hungry,  to  bring  the  poor  that  are  east  out  to 
thy  house,  to  clothe  the  naked  ?  (Is.  iviii.  6, 1.)  Ko  one  truly 
keeps  the  Sabbath,  unless  he  keeps  it  as  Christ  kept  it : 
and  He  went  about  doing  good,  and  healing  all  that  were 
oppressed  by  the  devil  (Acts  x.  38).  Again  :  Man's  spirit,  at 
least  while  in  this  world,  lives  in  a  body.  And  here  comes 
up  a  question  in  casuistry,  intensely  practical,  which  each 
one  must  decide  for  himself.  How  far  is  it  right  for  me 
to  do  on  the  Sabbath  things  which  are  confessedly  secular  ? 
Let  me  illustrate :  Here  is  a  poor,  hard-working  laborer, 
e.  g.,  a  shoemaker,  or  tailor,  or  operative.  Six  days  in  the 
week  he  bends  over  his  last,  or  sits  cross-legged,  or  manipu- 
lates wearily  amid  the  din  and  whirl  of  an  ill-ventilated 
factory.  AYhen  night  comes,  he  is  too  jaded  to  enjoy  even 
his  family,  and  early  seeks  the  unconsciousness  of  slumber. 
And  so  the  tiresome  days  creep  on  till  the  Sabbath  comes 
— the  day  appointed  in  God's  providential  working  as  Na- 
ture's compensation  reservoir.  In  the  morning  our  friend 
goes  to  the  sanctuary,  and  is  spiritually  refreshed  by  its 
ministrations.  But  God  has  given  him  a  body  as  \vell  as 
a  spirit — an  aesthetic  nature  as  well  as  a  moral.  Afternoon 
comes — a  bright  summer's  afternoon — and  our  weary  la- 
borer says  to  himself :  "  Oh  that  I  could  go  out  to  the  park 
to-day,  and  look  on  my  Father's  glorious  trees  and  beauti- 
ful flowers,  and  breathe  His  fresh,  pure,  sweet  air !  I  am 
sure  it  would  make  me  stronger  and  more  worshipful ! 
Will  it  be  wrong  for  me  to  go  ? "  Suppose  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  were  again  on  earth ;  how  do  you  think 
He  would  answer  the  question?  I  wiU  tell  you  how  I 
think  He  would  answer  it.  He  would  say :  "  The  Sabbath 
was  made  for  Man,  and  not  Man  for  the  Sabbath.  If  you 
think  it  will  do  you  good  to  take  a  stroll  in  the  park,  if  it 
13 


266  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

will  make  you  more  reverent  in  spirit,  if  it  will  lielj)  you 
to  engage  in  your  business  the  coming  week  more  cheerily 
and  effectively,  and  so  honor  Me  more  truly,  then  go !     I 
am  not  confined  to  temples  made  with  hands.    I  made  the 
trees  as  well  as  the  sanctuary,  the  flowers  as  well  as  the 
pews,  Nature  as  well  as  Scripture.     That  is  the  best  kept 
Sabbath  which  is  kept  in  such  a  way  as  to  unfold  you 
heavenward  most  totally — ^you  who  are  spirit  and  soul  and 
body  (1  Thess.v.  23).     This  is  the  meaning  and  pur2:)ose  of  the 
Sabbath.     It  was  made  for  you,  not  you  for  it.     If,  then, 
you  think  it  will  do  you  most  good  in  every  way  to  go  to 
the  park,  go ;  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sabl)ath 
go  with  you !  " — But,  observe,  because  this  man  may  have 
the  right  to  go  to  the  park,  it  does  not  follow  that  every 
one  has  the  same  right.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  circumstances 
do  alter  cases.     He  who  forbade  Mary  to  touch  Him  al- 
lowed Thomas  (John  XX.  17,  27).     It  is  easy  enough  for  a  ruler 
of  the  synagogue,  or  a  rich  man  of  leisure,  to  say :  "  There 
are  six  days  in  which  it  is  proper  to  work ;  on  these,  there- 
fore, go  and  be  cured ;  but  not  on  the  Sabbath-day  "  (Luke 
xiii.  14).     But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  poor  friend  of  ours, 
by  the  very  terms  of  our  supposition,  cannot,  without  what 
to  him  is  a  large  expense,  avail  himself  of  the  health  and 
beauty  and  gladness  of  God's  own  Nature  on  the  week 
days.     What,  then,  may  be  right  for  the  poor  man  may  be 
wrong  for  the  rich  man.     We  must  study  circumstances. 
God  treats  us  as  men,  not  as  babes.    We  must  exercise  our 
own  best  judgment.     Not  all  things  which  are  lawful  are 
expedient  (i  Cor.  vi.  12).     The  law  of  edification  holds  here 
in  supreme  force.     While  lenient  to  others,  refusing  to 
judge  our  brotlier  in  matters  of  casuistry,  we  must  be 
severe  with  ourselves.     Or  if  we  judge  at  all,  let  our  judg- 
ment rather  be  this,  not  to  put  a  stumbling-block,  or  an 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  2G7 

occaoion  to  fall,  in  a  brother's  way  (Rom.  xiv.  13).  Each  per- 
son must  decide  for  liimself  wliicli  is  the  best  way  of  keep- 
ing the  Sabbath,  i.  e.,  the  best  way  of  unfolding  to  the 
fullest  all  his  own  powers  heavenward  ;  for  this  is  the  very 
purpose  for  which  the  Sabbath  has  been  made. 

Such,  it  seems  to  me,  is  Christ's  Doctrine  of  the  Sab- 
bath. And  if  any  one  has  the  right  to  define  the  Sabbath 
it  is  He,  even  that  Son  of  Man  Who  is  the  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath. 

But  I  hear  some  objections  to  this 

4.-Objections.        ^  .^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  Sabbath.     It  is  but  fair  to 

consider  them. 

And,  first :  "  This  view  of  the  Sab- 
(ri.)-"  Allows  too  i^j^^i^  .^iiQ^g  ^QQ  ^^^^^  liberty."     My  an- 
much  Liberty."  ^^^^^  .^  twofold.     First :  there  are  two 

ways  of  treating  men,  either  as  infants,  incapable  of  guid- 
ing themselves,  or  as  men,  capable  of  reasoning,  and  so  of 
self-guidance.  The  first  was  the  Mosaic  way,  the  Church 
being  a  minor,  under  tutors  and  governors,  and  the  law 
being  a  letter,  graven  on  tablets  of  stone  :  the  second  is 
the  Christly  way,  the  Church  having  come  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  privileges  of  majority,  and  the  law  being  a 
spirit,  graven  on  tablets  of  heart  (Gal.  iv.  i-i  •  2  Cor.  m.  3). 
The  first  is  the  Romanist  way,  or  the  method  of  dictation, 
and  so  of  slaveship  :  the  second  is  the  Protestant  way,  or 
the  method  of  reasoning,  and  so  of  self-decision.  Now  it 
so  happens,  in  the  order  of  God's  In-spiration,  that  the 
New  Testament  expressly  mentions  the  Sabbath  as  being 
precisely  one  of  those  things  concerning  which  each  man 
is  to  be  the  law  to  himself  :  "  Let  no  one  judge  you  in 
eating  or  drinking,  or  in  the  matter  of  a  holyday,  or  a 
new  moon,  or  a  Sabbath"  (Col.  ii.  I6).'     Yes,  Jesus  Christ 

'  Compare  carefully,  in  this  connection,  St.  Paul's  discussion  of  the  Law  of  Liberty  in 
matters  of  casuistry,  as  set  forth  in  Koni.  xiv.,  xv.  1-7 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  12-20,  viii.    Were  these 


268  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

does  call  His  Cliurcli  unto  "  liberty."  But,  secondly  :  Lib- 
erty is  itself  responsibility.  The  slave  cannot  understand, 
in  any  tliorougb,  just  sense,  the  meaning  of  the  august  word 
Responsibility ;  none  but  the  freeman  can  understand  it. 
And  just  because  the  New  Testament  gives  me  liberty  in 
the  matter  of  the  Sabbath,  I  am  bound  to  be  more  con- 
scientious about  it  than  was  the  Old  Testament  Jew.  Ah, 
friends,  it  is  easier  to  be  a  Hebrew  than  a  Christian. 

But    I    hear   a    second   objection  : 

(&.) — "Perilous.'  .  r^    i  ^     .-i      •      -i 

"  Your  View  oi  the  Sabbath  is  danger- 
ous :  men  will  pervert  it,  perhaps  to  their  own  perdition." 
Of  course  they  may.  It  is  one  of  the  prerogatives  of 
Truth  to  be  23erverted.  Thus  the  Pharisees,  as  we  have 
seen,  perverted  the  teachings  of  the  Lord  of  Truth  in  this 
very  matter  of  the  Sabbath,  persecuting  Him  because,  as 
they  charged.  He  was  a  Sabbath-breaker  ;  whereas  no  one, 
before  or  since,  has  ever  fulfilled  the  Ideal  of  the  Sabbath 
so  perfectly  as  this  same  "  Sabbath-breaker."  In  fact,  all 
truth  is  "dangerous,"  and  the  higher  the  truth,  the  more 
dang-erous.  What  trath  so  blessed  as  the  tnith  of  Free 
Grace  ?  And  yet  what  truth  so  perilous,  and  so  often  sui- 
cidally abused  ?  Meanwhile,  Christ's  Truth  is  ever  able  to 
take  care  of  itself ;  it  is  only  falsehood  that  needs  buttress- 
ing. Uzzahs,  undertaking  to  steady  Jehovah's  Ark,  as 
though  it  were  in  real  danger,  ruin  themselves  (2  Sam.  vi.  6-8). 
Do  not  undertake  then  to  be  wiser  or  more  pradent  than 
the  Lord  of  Truth  Himself.  Enough  for  the  servant  that 
he  be  as  his  lord  (Matt.  x.  25). 

The  consideration  of  this  grave  topic, 
5.-Secret  of  the  j^]^!,^^    y,  it  lias  bccn  SO  meagrely  dis- 
Sabbath  Victory.  ,      .       .        .      -,  n  rr.i 

cussed,  IS  in  itsell  opportune.  Ine 
Sabbath  question  is  one  of  the  questions  of  the  age,  more 

inspired  precopts  more  scnipulously  observed,  what  a  tliinning  out  there  would  be  of  tbo 
self-appointed  Censors  of  the  brethren  I 


GENESIS   OF  THE  SABBATH.  269 

talked  about  in  the  field  and  workshop  and  factory  than 
we  ministers  dream.  It  is  a  question  which  we  ministers 
must  look  squarely  in  the  face.  The  foe  is  keen  and 
powerful.  Before  such  an  enemy  the  question  is  not  to 
be  settled  by  ijise  dixlts,  or  citations  of  ancestral  creeds. 
If  we  would  win  the  fight,  we  must  wage  battle  on  solid, 
abiding  ground.  How  then  shall  we  meet  the  question  ? 
I  know  no  other  way  than  that  which  the  Lord  of  the 
Sabbath  has  Himself  indicated.  The  Sabbath  was  made 
for  Man,  not  Man  for  the  Sabbath.  The  basis  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  not  God's  outward,  graven  letter,  but  Man's  in- 
ward, personal  need.  Meet  the  foe  on  the  ground  of  the 
Mosaic  ordinance,  and  you  are  bound  to  lose :  for  Mosaism 
was  local  and  transient.  Meet  the  foe  on  the  ground  of 
Man's  need,  and  you  are  bound  to  win  :  for  you  have  Na- 
ture, and  Nature's  Lord,  on  your  side. 

Before  closine;  our  study,  it  will  be 
TIL— The  Change  ,  ^  i    x       i  •       +i 

^  ^     ,      ^     proper  to  say  a  tew  words  touchmo;  the 
from  Saturday   to    ^^  ''       o  i  i      i     _<•  i       o, 

g^j^^^  change  oi  the  Sabbath  irom  tlie  Sev- 

enth Day  to  the  First — from  Saturday 
to  Sunday.  How  was  this  tremendous  change  brought 
about  I  Tremendous,  I  say,  for,  considering  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  the  change  was  nothing  less  than  a 
moral  revolution.  When  we  remember  that  the  Seventh 
Day  had  received  the  august  sanction  of  the  Creator's  own 
example  from  the  very  beginning :  that  the  commandment 
to  keep  the  Seventh  Day  holy,  proclaimed  as  it  had  been 
amid  the  trumpet  clangs  and  lightnings  and  quakings  and 
Divinely-ordained  barricades  of  Sinai,  was  distinctly  and 
emphatically  based  on  the  Creator's  own  exami)le  in  Eden 
(Ex.  XX.  8-11) :  that  the  keeping  the  Seventh  Day  had  been 
distinctly  set  forth  as  one  of  the  badges  of  the  Jewish 
Nationality  (Ex.  xxxi.  16,  17) :  that  the  keeping  the  Seventh 


270  STUDIES   IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Day  had  been  promised  the  most  glorious  of  rewards  (Is. 
iviii.  13, 14),  and  that  the  breaking  the  Seventh  Day  had  been 
threatened  the  direst  of  penalties — even  death  itself  (Ex. 
xxxi.  14, 15) :  that  for  more  than  fifteen  hundred  years  the 
Hebrew  people,  with  here  and  there  an  exception  in  times, 
of  immense  apostasy,  had  scrupulously  observed  the  Sev- 
enth Day  as  the  Divinely-appointed  Sabbath  :  that  this  ob- 
servance had  never  been  so  scrupulous  as  in  the  days  of 
Jesus  Christ  Himself — it  being,  in  fact,  the  very  point  at 
which,  as  we  have  seen.  He  came  into  oftenest  and  sharp- 
est collision  with  His  adversaries,  and  which  was  one  of 
the  precipitating  causes  of  His  premature  death :  that  the 
saintly  women,  who  had  bravely  stood  by  the  Cross,  and 
were  yearning  to  minister  to  their  dead  Lord  the  last  sepul- 
chral honors,  yet  scrupulously  refrained  from  doing  so  be- 
cause the  Seventh  Day  was  over  the  land  (Luke  xxiii.  55,  56 ; 
xxiv.  1) :  that  the  Apostles  were  Jews,  and  as  such  shared 
in  the  intense  conservatism  and  traditionalism  of  their 
race  :  that  there  is  no  record  of  any  Divine  command  to 
substitute  the  First  Day  for  the  Seventh :  when  we  re- 
member all  this,  we  are  forced  to  admit  that  the  change 
from  Saturday  to  Sunday  was  indeed  nothing  less  than  a 
tremendous  revolution.  But  revolutions  do  not  take  place 
without  causes.  How  then  will  you  account  for  this  stu- 
pendous revolution  ?  It  is  a  fair  question  for  the  philo- 
sophical historian  to  ask.  Here  is  a  venerable,  sacred  in- 
stitution— hallowed  by  the  Creator's  own  Example  in  Eden, 
solemnly  enjoined  amid  the  thunders  of  Sinai,  distinctly 
set  apart  as  one  of  the  chief  signs  that  Israel  was  God's 
chosen,  covenanted  people,  majestically  buttressed  by  lofti- 
est promises  in  case  of  observance,  and  by  direst  threats  in 
ease  of  non-observance,  freighted  with  the  solemn  weight 
of  fifteen  centuries  of  sacred  associations  and  scrupulous 


GENESIS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  271 

observance — suddenly  falling  into  disuse,  and  presently 
supplanted  by  another  Day,  which  to  this  year  of  Grace 
has  held  its  own  amid  the  throes  of  eighteen  centuries. 
How  then  will  you  account  for  this  stupendous  revolution  ? 
It  is,  I  repeat,  a  fair  question  for  the  philosophical  histo- 
rian to  ask.  And  the  philosophical  historian  knows  the 
answer-  Jesus  the  Nazarene  had  been  crucified.  All 
through  the  Seventh  Day  or  Hebrew  Sabbath  He  had 
lain  in  Joseph's  tomb.  In  that  tomb,  amid  solitude  and 
darkness  and  grave-clothes,  He  had  grappled  in  mortal 
duel  with  the  King  of  Death,  and  had  thrown  him, 
and  shivered  his  Sceptre.  At  the  close  of  that  awful 
Sabbath,  as  it  began  to  dawn  toward  the  First  Day  of 
the  Week  (Matt,  xxviii.  1),  He  had  risen  triumphant  from 
the  dead.  And  by  and  in  the  very  fact  of  that  tri- 
umphant Kising,  He  had  henceforth  and  for  evermore 
emblazoDcd  the  First  Day  of  the  Week  as  His  own  royal, 
supernal  Day,  even  Time's  first,  true  Sabbath.  Ah,  the 
Primitive  Church  needed  no  command.  Conscious  of 
their  need  of  a  Sabbath,  and  aware  that  the  Hebrew  Sev- 
enth Day,  like  the  other  institutions  of  the  Sinaitic  Econ- 
omy, had  shared  Christ's  Sepulclire,  but  not  Christ's  Resur- 
rection, it  was  enough  for  them,  and  it  is  enough  for  us, 
that  He  Who  Himself  was  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
greater  than  Sinai  and  Eden,  had  risen  on  Sunday.  By 
as  much  then  as  Spirit  is  nobler  than  matter  :  by  as  much 
as  Grace  is^  grander  than  law :  by  as  much  as  the  Eden  to 
come  is  sublimer  than  the  Eden  that  has  been  :  by  as  much 
as  a  finished  Redemption  is  auguster  than  a  finished  Crea- 
tion :  by  so  much  does  the  day  which  commemorates  the 
achievement  of  a  Redeemer  transcend  the  day  which  com- 
memorates the  achievement  of  a  Creator.  Not  that  the 
eai'lier  achievement  was  not  glorious  :  but  it  has  ceased  to  be 


272  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

glorious  by  reason  of  the  Glory  which  excelleth  (2  Cor.  iii.  lo). 
Ay,  Saturday  was  but  the  Sabbath  of  Creation,  Sunday  is 
the  Sabbath  of  Redemption :  Saturday  the  Sabbath  of  the 
first  Adam,  Sunday  the  Sabbath  of  the  Second  Adam :  Satur- 
day the  Sabbath  of  Nature,  Sunday  the  Sabbath  of  Grace : 
Saturday  the  Sabbath  of  tlie  letter,  Sunday  the  Sabbath  of 
the  Spirit :  Saturday  the  Sabbath  of  perdition  by  Sinai, 
Sunday  the  Sabbath  of  Salvation  by  Calvary:  Saturday 
the  Sabbath  of  a  rejected,  executed,  entombed  Jesus,  Sun- 
day the  Sabbath  of  a  Risen,  Exalted,  Triumphant  Christ : 
Saturday  Creator's  day,  Sunday  Redeemer's  Day. 

"Hail,  Thou  Lord  of  earrti  and  heaven  ! 
Praise  to  Thee  by  both  be  given ! 
Thee  we  greet  triumphant  now  ! 
Ilail  the  Resurrection,  Thou!  " — (Wesley.) 

Finally  :  Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  our 

,l^-~f.^T^^'!''f  Sabbath,  alike  its  origin,  its  meaning. 
Himself  Our  Sab-         .  .       '    j       t     i-     ^    xi    \c      i  I- 

,   .,  and  its  end.     in  tact,  tlie  final  cause  or 

the  Sabbath  is  to  Sabbatize  each  day  and 
make  all  life  sacramental.  And  Jesus  Christ  being  our  true 
Sabbath,  Jesus  Christ  is  also  our  true  Rest — even  the  spir- 
it's everlasting  Eden.  May  it  be  for  us  all  evermore  to  be 
in  the  Lord's  own  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  own  Day  (Rev.  i.  lo)! 
So  shall  we  keep  His  Sabbath  as  a  Resurrection  festival. 
Why  seek  ye  the  Living  One  among  the  dead  'I  He  is  not 
here  :  He  is  Risen,  as  He  said  (Luke  xxlv.  5,  6).  Ours  is  not 
the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre :  ours  is  the  Church  of  the 
Resurrection.  May  it  be  for  us  all  evermore  to  feel  the 
power  of  His  Resurrection  (Phil.  iii.  lO),  and  so  to  enter  the 
Sabbath's  rest  which  remaincth  for  His  people  (Ilcb.  iv.  lo) ! 
Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


LECTUEE  XIV. 

PALINGENESIS, 

"The  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night;  in 
the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the 
elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works 
that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing,  then,  that  all  these  things 
shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons  ought  you  to  be  in  all 
holy  conversation  and  godliness ;  looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the 
coming  of  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall 
be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat?  Never- 
theless we,  according  to  His  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dvvelleth  righteousness."— 2  Peter  iii.  10-13. 

We  have  now  completed  our  study  of 
L-The  Retro-  the  Story  of  the  Creative  Week.    Stand- 
^'^^^^^'  ing  at  the  goal,  it  is  natural  for  ns  to  look 

backward,  and  review  the  tield  we  have  traversed.  Even  the 
Creator  Himself,  at  the  close  of  the  Sixth  Day,  reviewed 
His  own  work,  and  took  delight  in  it :  "  God  saw  every- 
thing that  fee  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good  " 
(Gen.  i.  31).  May  the  Spirit  of  God  help  ns  as  we  also  vent- 
ure to  join  in  the  sacred  Eeview !  Accordingly,  ascending 
once  more  the  Mount  of  Panoramic  Yision,  let  us  gaze 
with  the  inspired  Seer  on  the  unfolding  sections  of  the 
Creative  Week. 

Go  we  back,  then,  to  an  indefinite 

sand  years :  it  may  be  six  hundred  thou- 
sand :  it  may  be  six  million  million  :  it  matters  not :  enough 


274  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

that  it  is  sublimely  called  "  The  Beginning."  The  curtain 
uplifts.  It  is  the  First  Scene.  Alas,  it  is  no  scene  at  all ! 
Nothing  but  universal,  absolute,  infinite  Space. 

"Illimitable,  ....  without  bound, 
Without  dimension,  where  length,  breadth,  and  height, 
And  time,  and  place,  are  lost." — ("  Paradise  Lost.") 

2_T1    E     •  •  <r         ^gain  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 
Universe.  °  °  Second  Scene.     "  In  the  beginning  God 

created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  It 
is  the  vision  of  the  emerging  elements  of  the  Universe. 
In  the  Beginning,  when  J^othing  was,  God  caused  to  come 
into  existence  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  A  miracle,  of 
course,  it  was.  And,  being  a  miracle,  of  course,  my  intel- 
lect cannot  understand  it.  But  my  faith  can.  By  faith  we 
understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  Word  of 
God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  appeared  (Heb.  xi.  3).  Ay,  this  word — "  Faith  " — is 
the  motto  inscribed  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  Temple 
of  Truth.  The  very  first  question  in  philosophy  is  this : 
"  "What  is  the  Origin  of  Things  ? "  The  very  first  sentence 
of  the  Bible  is  an  answer  to  that  question :  an  answer  as 
■simple  as  majestic — God.  Thus  the  very  first  summons  to 
the  student  of  Nature  is  a  summons  to  an  act  of  faith. 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 
—    c  -  mcrg-ing  rp|^j^^^    Sceuc.      "  And  the  earth   was 

Chaos. 

without  form,  and  void,  and  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  I  know  not  at  M'hat  stage 
in  the  course  of  Time  this  chaotic  state  existed :  it  may 
have  been  the  instant  after  creation  :  it  may  not  have  been 
till  indefinite  ages  had  glided  away.  What  I  know  is  this  : 
There  has  been  a  time  when  the  earth  was  waste  and  fonn- 
less,  and  darkness  was  over  the  face  of  the  abyss. 


PALINGENESIS.  275 

Again  tlie  curta-in  rises.     It  is  the 

4 -The  Emerging    ^^^^^^    g^^^^_      ,,  ^^^    ^^^^    ^^^^^^^   ^^ 
Order. 

God  moved  over  the  face  of  the  fluids." 
I  know  not  how  much  this  means.  What  I  know  is  this : 
The  wind  sometimes  does  an  assuaging  ministry — e.  g.,  when 
earth  was  endehiged,  God  caused  a  wind  to  pass  over  it, 
and  the  waters  subsided  (Gen.  viii.  i).  In  some  sense  and  way 
inscrutable  to  us,  the  Spirit  of  God — the  Divine  Wind — 
liovered  over  ancient  chaos,  marshaling,  coordinating,  or- 
ganizing its  heterogeneous  elements,  breathing  over  the 
shapeless,  desolate,  Cimmerian  immensity  His  own  energy 
of  movement,  and  array,  and  unity,  and  j^eace,  and  beauty. 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 
5 -The  Emerging    ^.^^^    ^^^^^^      ,,  ^^^^    ^^^    ^^^.^  .     ,j^ 

Light. 

Light  be  ! '  and  Light  was."  I  know  not 
whence  this  Light  came,  or  how,  or  what  its  nature.  It 
could  not  have  been  the  light  of  the  sun  :  for  that  did  not 
make  its  apj^earance  till  the  Fourth  Day,  This  light  of 
the  First  Day  was,  quite  probably,  the  light  of  atomic 
movement — the  universal  ether,  as  it  were,  quivering  be- 
neath the  flutter  of  the  Spirit's  wings  and  surging  in  bil- 
lows of  light  before  the  zephyr  of  His  own  breathing.  All 
I  know  is  this :  "  God  said  :  '  Let  Light  be ! '  and  Light 
was.  And  there  was  evening,  and  there  was  morning, 
Day  One." 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 

6.-The  Emerging    g.^^^^    g^^^^^^      „  ^,^^    Q^^    g^id  :    'Let 
Sky. 

there  be  an  expanse  in  the  midst  of  the 
fluids,  and  let  it  di\ade  fluids  from  fluids.'  "  I  know  not 
liow  much  this  term  "  expanse  "  means.  It  may  mean  the 
atmospheric  heavens,  absorbing  the  vapors  rising  from 
earth's  surface,  and  so  separating  the  waters  into  masses — 
the  one  mass  above,  the  other  mass  below.     Or  it  may  mean 


276  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  ethereal  heavens,  gliding  through  and  arching  in  the 
then  fluid  universe,  thus  separating  it  into  masses  sidereal 
and  terrestrial.  All  I  know  is  this :  "  God  said  :  '  Let  there 
be  an  expanse  in  the  midst  of  the  fluids,  and  let  it  divide 
fluids  from  fluids.'  And  God  called  the  exjjanse  'Heav- 
ens.' And  there  was  evening,  and  there  was  morning.  Day 
Two." 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 

7.-Thc  Emerging    g^^gj^^j^  g^^^^^^      a  J^^^  Q^d  said  :  '  Let 
Lands. 

the  waters  under  the  heavens  gather 
themselves  to  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear.'  And 
it  was  so.  And  God  called  the  dry  ground  Earth,  and  the 
gathering  together  of  the  waters  He  called  Seas."  I  know 
not  how  this  was  done :  w^hether  suddenly  and  violently, 
or  slowly  and  gently :  whether  directly,  by  the  Creative 
Dictum,  or  indirectly,  as,  e.  g.,  through  fiery  or  chemical 
agencies.  I  know  not  the  How  :  I  only  know  the  What. 
And  a  sublime  spectacle  it  is :  this  resurrection  of  the  ter- 
restrial forms  out  of  Ocean's  baptismal  sepulchre :  this 
emergence  of  island,  and  continent,  and  mountain  :  this 
heaving  into  sight  of  Britain  and  Madagascar  and  Cuba 
and  Greenland,  of  Asia  and  Africa  and  Australia  and 
America,  of  Alps  and  Himalayas  and  Andes  and  Sierra 
Nevada  —  more  thrilling  still,  oi  Ararat  and  Sinai  and 
Pisjrah  and  Carmel  and  Zion  and  Olivet. 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 

8.-The  Emerging    ^^^^^^  g^^^^^^      ,  ^^^    ^^^  ^^.^  .    , -^^^ 

Plants.  o 

the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fmit  after  its 
kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself.' "  And,  lo,  it  is  so.  On  all 
sides  spring  up  as  if  by  magic  the  floating  algre,  the  cir- 
cling lichens,  the  luxuriant  mosses,  the  branching  ferns,  the 
waving  grasses,  the  graceful  palms,  the  kingly  oaks,  the 


PALINGENESIS.  277 

iris-liued  flowers.  And  a  blessed  vision  it  is  :  this  grateful 
exchange  of  dull  uniformity  and  brown  nakedness  for 
vegetable  colors,  for  cai'pets  of  emerald,  and  tapestries  of 
white,  and  aznre,  and  crimson,  and  orange,  and  purple. 
Even  the  God  of  Beauty  Himself  feels  that  it  is  good. 
And  there  is  evening,  and  there  is  morning,  Day  Three. 

Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 

9.-The  Emerging    ^j^^j^   g^^^^^^      a  ^^d    God  Said:    'Let 
Luminaries.  i       t    i         .        i 

there  be  lights  m  the  expanse  of  the 

heavens,  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,  to  rule  over  the  day 
and  over  the  night,  and  to  divide  the  light  from  the  dark- 
ness : '  and  it  was  so."  !Not  that  God  for  the  first  time 
creates  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Our  Chronicler  does  not  as- 
sert this.  What  he  asserts  is  this  :  God  now,  for  the  first 
time,  causes  sun,  and  moon,  and  stars  to  become  visible,  or 
light-bearers.  How  this  was  brought  about  I  know  not. 
It  may  have  been  by  giving  transparence  to  the  hitherto 
thick,  turbid  atmosphere,  and  so  letting  through  it  the  light 
of  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Or  it  may  have  been  by  endowing 
the  heavenly  bodies  with  power  to  excite  ethereal  undula- 
tions :  thus  massing  the  diffused  light  of  the  First  Day  into 
distinct,  definite,  fixed  sources  of  light.  All  I  know  is  this : 
"  God  said :  '  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  expanse,  to  give 
light  on  the  earth.'  "  And,  lo,  it  is  so.  And  a  wonderful 
vision  it  is.  There  is  still  light  upon  the  newly-verdured 
mountain  and  mead.  But  it  is  a  strange,  weird  light,  it  may 
be  like  that  of  the  zodiacal  gleam  or  the  iris-hued,  lambent 
shimmer  of  the  Northern  Aurora.  Suddenly  the  golden- 
ing  gateways  of  the  East  open,  and,  lo !  a  dazzling  Orb, 
henceforth  the  Lord  of  Day,  strides  forth  from  his  cloud- 
pavilion  as  a  bridegroom  from  liis  chamber,  and  rejoices 
to  run  his  course  as  a  giant  his  race  (Psalm  xix.  4-5) :  upward 
and  upward  he  royally  mounts  :  downward  and  downward 


278  STUDIES   IX  THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

lie  rojally  bows :  as  lie  nears  the  goal  of  his  resplendent 
march,  lo  !  the  blushing  portals  of  the  West  open  to  re- 
ceive him :  and,  lo !  again,  his  gentle  consort,  "  pale  em- 
press of  the  night,"  sweeps  forth  in  silver  sheen,  while 
around  her  planet  and  comet,  Arcturus  and  Mazzaroth, 
Orion  and  Pleiades,  hold  glittering  court.  And  there  is 
evening,  and  there  is  morning,  Day  Four. 

10  —The    Emcr-         Again  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 
giiig Animals.  Tenth  Scene.     "And  God  said:  'Let 

the  waters  swarm  with  swarms  of  living 
beings,  and  let  birds  %  above  the  earth  along  the  expanse 
of  the  heavens,  and  let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living 
creature  after  its  kind.' "  And,  lo,  it  is  so.  Sea,  air,  land, 
is  instinct  with  moving  life.  The  polyp  secretes  his  coral, 
the  jelly-fish  spreads  his  filaments,  the  sea-urchin  juts  out 
his  spines,  the  oyster  exudes  his  shell,  the  nautilus  spreads 
his  sail,  the  caterpillar  winds  his  cocoon,  the  spider  weaves 
his  web,  the  salmon  darts  through  the  sea,  the  lizard  glides 
among  the  rocks,  the  eagle  soars  the  skj,  the  lion  roams 
the  jungle,  and  all  Animate  Creation  awaits  its  lord.  For 
now  we  have  reached  the  Fane  to  which  all  the  Past  with 
ever-increasing  distinctness  has  been  pointing. 

Acrain  the  curtain  rises.     It  is  the 
11.  —  The    Einer-  '='  *         /-.  . 

gin"-  Man,  Eleventh  Scene.    "  And  God  said :  '  Let 

Us  make  Man  in  Our  image,  after  Our 
likeness :  and  let  them  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
over  the  bird  of  the  heavens,  and  over  the  cattle  of  the 
lands,  and  over  all  the  earth.' "  And,  lo,  a  Form  like  to 
that  of  the  Son  of  God  stoops  down,  and,  taking  in  Ilis 
hand  some  of  the  dust  of  the  soil,  lie  moulds  it  into  a 
figure  like  to  His  own  Divine  Self,  and  breathes  into  the 
nostrils  Ilis  own  life-breath:  and,  lo,  the  dust-figure  be- 
comes not  only  a  living  soul,  like  the  animals  around  him. 


PALINGENESIS.  279 

but  also  a  Man,  becoming,  in  very  virtue  of  having  been 
Divinely  inbreathed,  the  Creator's  Inspiration  and  Image 
and  Son,  and  so  the  Viceroy  of  Earth. 

„,      T,  Again  the  curtain  rises.      It  is  the 

12.  —  The     Emcr-  p 

gin„  Eden.  Twelfth  Scene.     And,  lo,  on  the  East 

of  our  Mount  of  Vision,  in  the  fair 
coimtry  of  the  Euphrates,  emerges  a  Garden  of  unspeak- 
able loveliness.  There,  amid  a  park  in  which  grows 
every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food, 
and  in  the  shadow  of  two  wondrous  Trees — the  permitted 
Tree  of  Life  and  the  forbidden  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of 
Good  and  Evil — the  Creator  installs  the  Man  He  has  in- 
breathed, and  thereby  made  His  Son  and  Image  and  Vice- 
roy, to  till  the  Garden  and  to  keep  it. 

,„      rru     V  Again  the  curtain  rises.      It  is  the 

13.  —  Ine     Emer-  _     ~ 

ging  Woman.  Thirteenth   Scene.      "  And   God   said  : 

'  It  is  not  good  that  the  Man  should  be 
alone :  I  Avill  make  a  helper,  suited  to  him.'  "  According- 
ly, He  summons  the  various  forms  of  animal  life,  that  the 
Man  may  catch  a  glimpse  of  what  Society  means.  And  so 
every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  bird  of  the  air  come 
trooping  to  the  Man  :  and  he  gives  to  each  his  name.  But 
amid  all  these  varieties  of  moving,  sentient  creatures,  he 
finds  no  true  companion.  Wearied  with  his  work  of  nam- 
ing the  animal  creation,  and  disquieted  by  the  sense  of  de- 
fect, he  lies  down  on  the  rich,  odorous  sward,  it  may  be  in 
shadow  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  falls  into  a  profound 
slumber.  And  now  is  the  golden  hour  for  Divine  instruc- 
tion. Wrapped  hi  his  deep  sleep,  Eden's  dreamer  beholds 
his  Maker  taking  from  himself  one  of  his  own  ribs,  form- 
ing it  into  a  Woman,  and  presenting  her  to  himself,  to  be 
to  Inm  henceforth  that  blessed  mate  for  whom  he  has  un- 
consciously sighed.     Nor  is  it  altogether  a  dream.     For  on 


280  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

aAvaking,  he  still  beholds  standing  by  him  the  fair  vision. 
Recognizing  her  as  his  Second  Self,  he  joyously  exclaims  : 
"  This  now  is  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesh ! 
This  shall  be  called  Isha,  Woman,  because  from  Ish,  Man, 
was  she  taken."  And  hand-in-hand  they  roam  raimentless, 
and  are  not  ashamed.  And  there  was  evening  and  there 
was  morning,  Day  Six.  And  so  were  finished  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  and  all  their  host.  And  God  saw  all  that 
He  had  made ;  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good. 

™,      „  Once  more  the  curtain  rises.     It  is 

14.  —  The     Emer- 
ging Sabbath.  the  Fourteenth   Scene,     "And  on  the 

Seventh  Day  God  ended  His  work 
which  He  had  made  :  and  He  rested  on  the  Seventh  Day 
from  all  His  work  which  He  had  made :  and  God  blessed 
the  Seventh  Day,  and  sanctified  it :  because  on  it  He  rest- 
ed from  all  His  work  which  God  created  in  making  it."  It 
is  the  vision  of  the  Sabbath.  And  so  falls  the  curtain  on  the 
final  scene  of  the  Divine  Drama  of  the  Creative  Week. 

And  with  this   venerable  Creation 
The  Creation  Ar-  j^j-d^iye  the  latest  science  substantially 

chives  and  the  Hca-  -r<  j^i  j_  \ 

,,      ^  .  agrees.      Ji,ven   the    most    pronounced 

then  Cosmogonies.  o        ^  ^  _  i        ^ 

skeptic  will  admit  that  there  is  more 
solid  scientific  tnith  in  these  few  verses  than  in  all  the 
tomes  of  pagan  literature.  How  measurelessly  superior 
is  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  to  the  theories  of  the  universe 
as  held  by  the  most  intellectual  nations  of  antiquity :  the 
Phoenicians,  the  Egj^tians,  the  Babylonians,  the  Per- 
sians, the  Indians,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans !  The  Yedas 
of  Ilindostan,  we  are  commcndingly  told,  are  marvels  of 
philosophy.  According  to  the  Brahminic  cosmogony,  the 
universe  came  into  existence  in  the  state  of  water,  and  then 
developed  into  a  stupendous,  dazzling  cg;g;,  in  which  the 
god  of  the  Hindoos  created  himself,  and  abode  4,320,000,000 


PALINGENESIS.  281 

years,  and  then  split  the  egg  in  two,  and  ont  of  the  halves 
made  heaven  and  earth.  And  now  I  have  a  qnestion  to 
ask :  How  happens  it  that  Moses  has  given  us  an  incom- 
parably superior  cosmogony?  Trained  in  the  School  of 
Nile,  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  (Acts  vii.  22), 
how  happens  it  that  he  did  not  reproduce  their  theory  of 
the  universe?  Suppose,  as  some  w^ould  have  us  believe, 
that  the  "  Mosaic  Eecord "  is  of  Assyrian  or  Persian  ori- 
gin :  how  happens  it  that  its  cosmogony  is  not  Assyrian 
or  Persian  ?  How  happens  it  that  it  is  so  accordant  with 
the  latest  science  ?  Where  did  the  writer  of  the  first  two 
chapters  of  Genesis — chapters  confessedly  among  the  very 
oldest  specimens  of  human  literature — acquire  all  this  mar- 
velous knowledge,  a  knowledge  which,  we  are  told,  can 
be  gained  only  by  elaborate  processes  of  investigation,  and 
aids  of  laboratory  and  microscope  ?  How  happens  it  that, 
without  any  of  the  helps  of  modern  science,  he  anticipated 
by  millenniums  the  conceptions  of  such  master  minds  as 
Laplace  and  Cuvier,  Faraday  and  Dana?  Is  there  any 
more  philosophic  answer  than  this  :  he  was  Divinely  in- 
spired ?  To  that  Divine  Inspirer  be  all  thanksgiving  and 
glory !     Amen. 

^,      „  But,  ahhough  we  have  reached  the 

II.  —  The    Pros-  ,       '  -,.        ■       .i       /^       i- 

^^^  goal   of    our   studies   m   the   Creative 

Week,  we  cannot  help  looking  forward 
as  well  as  backward.  A  thrilling  problem  still  confronts 
us.  What  is  to  be  the  future  of  these  material  heavens 
and  earth  ?  Are  they  to  exist  in  tlieir  present  state  for- 
ever ?  Are  they  to  be  anniliilated  ?  Are  they  to  be  rc- 
constnicted  ?  Thank  God,  we  are  not  left  here  to  specu- 
lation. Listen  to  an  authority  which  many  of  us  accept 
as  ultimate  :  "  The  Day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  tliief 
in  the  night:  in  the  which  the  heavens  will  pass  away 


282  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  will  be  scorched  up 
and  dissolved,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  will  be  burned  up.  Seeing  then  that  all  these 
things  are  to  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons  ought 
ye  to  be  in  all  holy  behavior  and  godliness,  looking  for 
and  hastening  the  coming  of  the  Day  of  God :  by  reason 
of  which  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  will  be  dissolved,  and 
the  elements  will  be  melted  with  fervent  heat  ?  But  we, 
according  to  His  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  Righteousness.  Wherefore,  be- 
loved, seeing  that  ye  look  for  such  things,  be  diligent,  that, 
being  without  spot  and  blameless,  ye  may  be  found  by  Him 
in  peace  "  (2  Peter  iii.  10-13).  It  is  the  Palingenesis,  or  Apoca- 
lypse of  the  coming  Re-creation,  ev^en  as  the  Story  we  have 
been  studying  is  the  Genesis,  or  Apocalypse  of  the  past 
Creation. 

In  taking  our  outlook  then,  survey — 
1  _The    c  min"-         First:    The    Coming    Dissolution: 
Dissolution.  "  The  Day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a 

thief  in  the  night :  in  the  which  the 
heavens,  being  on  fire,  will  pass  away  with  a  crashing  roar, 
and  the  elements  will  be  scorched  up  and  melted  and  dis- 
solved with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  the  works 
therein  will  be  burned  up." 

(«.)-ScicntificCon.         ^"<^  ^  ^^^ar  an  objection:  "Such  a 
fiimation.  catastroplie  is  not  in  the  least  degree 

probable  :  the  uniformity  of  Nature,  or 
stability  of  Natural  Law,  is  altogether  against  it."  The 
Apostle  Peter  has  anticipated  your  objection,  and  answered 
it.  Listen  to  his  words  in  this  very  chapter  from  whicli 
our  passage  is  taken :  "  There  will  come  in  tlie  last  days 
scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts,  and  saying :  '  Where 
is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?     For  since  the  fathei-s  fell 


PALINGENESIS.  283 

asleep  all  tilings  have  continued  as  they  were  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Creation.'  For  this  they  willingly  are  ig- 
norant of,  that  by  the  Word  of  God  the  heavens  were  from 
of  old,  and  the  earth  formed  out  of  water  and  by  means  of 
water :  whereby  the  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed 
with  water,  perished  :  but  the  heavens  and  the  earth  which 
are  now,  by  the  same  Word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  un- 
to fire  against  the  Day  of  Judgment  and  destruction  of 
ungodly  men  "  (2  Peter  iii,  3-'7).  That  is  to  say :  as  the  close 
of  the  present  seon  approaches  there  will  arise  godless 
unbehevers,  who  will  sneer  at  the  possibility  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  world,  or  the  Return  of  the  Lord,  scofiing- 
ly  saying:  "Where  now  is  His  promised  coming?  For 
since  the  fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  have  continued  as 
they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  Creation."  But  how 
groundless  the  assumption !  As  a  matter  of  history,  all 
things  have  not  continued  as  they  were  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Creation.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Kature  has  not  al- 
ways been  uniform.  There  has  been  at  least  one  memo- 
rable exception  to  her  uniformity :  it  was  the  tremendous 
Catastrophe  of  the  Deluge.  Moreover:  Geologists  teach 
that  some  of  the  great  transition  epochs  of  terrene  history, 
such  as  the  sudden  oscillations  of  ocean  level,  the  uplifting 
and  plunging  of  portions  of  the  earth-crust,  the  unconform- 
able, plicated,  and  metamorphic  rocks,  the  glacial  period 
just  prior  to  the  advent  of  Man,  were  instances  of  catas- 
trophe, or  break  in  the  uniformity  of  Nature.  In  fact,  it 
is  the  very  stability  of  natural  law  which  prepares  the  way 
for  catastrophes;  it  is  the  very  P;"inciple  of  Continuity 
which  necessitates  breaks.  And,  what  is  especially  signifi- 
cant as  bearing  on  our  passage,  the  physicists  teach  that 
the  globe  itself  was  once  in  a  state  of  igneous  fusion. 
What  has  happened  once  can  happen  again.     In  fact,  it  is 


384:  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

the  teacliing  of  those  who  are  competent  to  instruct  ns  in 
such  matters  that  the  material  univei'se  carries  within  itself 
the  elements  of  its  own  destruction.  Let  me  quote  a  single 
sample,  and  this  from  the  latest  authority.  Professor  New- 
comb,  of  the  Naval  Observatory,  in  a  work  just  issued,  says : 
"  All  modern  science  seems  to  point  to  the  finite  duration 
of  our  system  in  its  present  form,  and  to  carry  us  back  to 
the  time  when  neither  sun  nor  planet  existed,  save  as  a 
mass  of  glowing  gas.  How  far  back  that  was,  it  cannot 
tell  us  with  certainty ;  it  can  only  say  that  the  period  is 
counted  by  millions  of  years,  but  probably  not  by  hun- 
dreds of  millions.  It  also  points  forward  to  the  time  when 
the  sun  and  stars  shall  fade  away,  and  Nature  shall  be  en- 
shrouded in  darkness  and  death,  unless  some  power  now 

unseen  shall  uphold  or  restore  her  "    ("  Popular  Astronomy,"  pp. 

489, 490).  Thus  here,  as  elsewhere — as  we  so  often  have  had 
occasion  to  note  in  this  Series — the  Bible,  though  not  a 
scientific  book,  is  ever  in  advance,  of  Science.  It  is  one  of 
the  unconscious,  and  therefore  telling,  tributes  of  Science 
to  the  Bible  that  the  truth  which  is  implied  in  Scripture 
she  declares  is  explicit  in  Nature. 

,,  ,     .   ,  ,         ,         And  what  an  awful  catastrophe  that 

(b.) — Awfulncss  of  .  ,.       ,      .  mi   i       i     -nri     j. 

the  Catastrophe.         commg  dissolution  Will  be  !    W  hat  pen 
can  portray  that  dreadful  scene  when, 

''  Like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve ; 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind  "?—("  Tempest,"  iv.  1.) 

But  let  me  not  darken  counsel  by  words  without  knowl- 
edge, even  though  the  words  be  those  of  the  mighty  Dra- 


PALINGENESIS.  285 

matist  himself.  Enough  that  I  simply  recall  to  you  the 
Scriptural  hints,  thus  :  The  sudden  emancipation  of  the  im- 
prisoned, latent  heat ;  the  detonating  explosion  ;  the  cin- 
dered, ashen  globe ;  the  crisping,  dissolving  heavens ;  the 
fused  elements.  And  the  catastrophe  will  be  as  sudden  as 
awful.  The  possibility  of  the  suddenness  of  the  explosion 
i.5  conceivable  when  we  remember  that  oxygen,  which  is 
vastly  the  most  abundant  of  the  elements — constituting 
one-Hfth  of  the  atmosphere,  one-half  of  the  rocks,  eight- 
ninths  of  the  waters,  and  nearly  if  not  quite  one-half  of 
the  total  weight  of  known  matter — is  also  the  grand  sup- 
porter of  combustion.  Oxygen,  the  great  world-builder, 
is  ever  ready  to  become  the  great  world-destroyer.  For  it 
only  needs  that  the  Creator  should  change  in  the  case  of 
oxygen,  and  this  in  the  slightest  degree  imaginable,  the  law 
of  definite  proportionals :  and  the  universe  may  instantly 
explode.  As  the  night-burglar  gives  no  hint  of  his  com- 
ing, so  will  be  the  coming  of  the  great  Day  of  God.  When 
men  are  saying :  "  Peace  and  safety ! "  then  sudden  de- 
struction will  swoop  down  on  them,  and  they  will  not 
escape.  But  ye,  brethren,  are  not  in  darkness,  that  the 
Day  should  overtake  you  as  a  thief  (i  Thess.  v.  1-5).  Ye  are 
children  of  Light,  and  as  such  like  unto  men  who  wait  for 
their  lord,  when  he  shall  return  from  the  wedding.  Blessed 
are  those  servants  whom  their  Lord,  when  He  cometh,  shall 
find  watching.  Yerily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  He  will  gird 
Himself,  and  make  them  to  sit  do-^m  at  meat,  and  will 
come  forth  and  serve  them  (Luke  xii.  36,  37). 

And  so  we  pass  to  ponder,  secondly, 
2. -The    Coming  ^^^^  Coming  Reconstruction:  "But  new 

Reconstruction.  *^ 

heavens  and  new  earth,  accordmg  to 
His  promise,  do  we  look  for,  wherein  Righteousness 
dwelleth." 


286  STUDIES  m  THE  C3REATIVE  WEEK. 

Kew  heavens  and  'New  earth  do  wc 

TT  ^  A  T?   ..  ""  lot>k  for.     These  words,  I  have  no  man- 

Heavens  and  Earth.  ' 

ner  of  doubt,  are  to  be  taken  literally. 
For  we  must  be  consistent :  if  we  take  the  prophecy  of  the 
coming  dissolution  as  literal,  we  must  take  the  prophecy 
of  the  coming  renovation  as  hteral.  In  all  events,  the 
burden  of  proof  lies  with  him  who  accepts  the  one  proph- 
ecy as  literal,  and  declares  the  other  prophecy  spiritual. 
Beware  of  that  attenuated,  superfine  transcendentalism 
which  still  tinges  the  modern  Christian  philosophy  in  the 
matter  of  the  Future  State.  This  extreme,  unreal  super- 
.spirituality  is  a  relic  of  the  old  Zoroastrian  doctrine  of 
Dualism,  which  the  Manicheans  injected  into  Christianity, 
or,  rather,  on  which  they  imposed  a  few  of  the  Christian 
truths.  It  is  amazing  that  a  notion  so  thoroughly  heathen 
was  not  long  ago  uprooted  out  of  Christian  theology. 
Were  we  pagans,  we  might  join  in  the  famous  thanksgiv- 
ing of  the  Egyptian  Plotinus  that  he  was  not  tied  to  an 
immortal  body,  and,  like  him,  refuse  to  have  our  portraits 
taken,  on  the  ground  that  the  human  body  is  a  thing  too 
contemptible  to  have  its  image  perpetuated.  Ko  ;  Matter 
is  no  more  inherently  evil  than  Spirit  is.  The  real  antith- 
esis to  God  is  not  Matter,  but  Sin.  When  the  Creative 
Dixit  was  pronounced,  and  the  universe  of  Matter  sprang 
into  being,  God  saw  all  that  He  had  made,  and,  behold,  it 
was  very  good  (.Gen.  i.  3i).  Moreover,  it  seems  impossible — 
at  least  so  long  as  we  are  constituted  as  we  now  are — that 
the  spirit  should  consciously  exist  without  a  body.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Apostle  Paul  longs,  not  to  be  unclothed,  but 
clothed  upon  :  not  to  be  stripped  of  his  earthly  house  and 
raiment,  and  so  wander,  a  houseless,  raimentlcss,  disembod- 
ied spirit — hovering,  like  a  ghostly  phantom,  an  empty 
shadow,  in  the  blank  spaces  of  eternity :  but  he  longs  to 


PALIJfGENESIS.  287 

be  housed  with  his  tabernacle— clothed  upon  with  his  rai- 
ment— which  is  from  heaven — even  that  nobler,  spiritual, 
pneumatic  body  wliich  shall  serve  as  the  perfect  vehicle 
and  instrument  of  his  spirit  as  redeemed,  beatified,  perfect- 
ed in  the  Paradise  of  his  God  (2  Cor.  v.  1-4).  But  a  body 
like  this,  however  ethereal,  is  still  material.  And  a  ma- 
terial body  must  have  a  material  home.  Accordingly,  I 
firmly  believe  that  Heaven  is  a  j^lace  as  well  as  a  state,  a 
locality  as  well  as  a  character.  In  fact,  it  is  precisely  be- 
cause Heaven  is  a  material  locality  that  the  present  Earth 
is  a  training-school  for  Heaven.  It  is  the  material  world 
round  us  to-day  which  serves  as  the  arena  for  personal  self- 
discipline.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  receive  our  moral 
training  for  eternity  in  to-day's  school  of  Matter.  It  is  the 
material  world  coming  in  contact  with  our  moral  person- 
alities, through  the  senses  of  touching  and  seeing  and  hear- 
ing and  tasting,  which  is  really  and  continuously  testing 
our  moral  character.  It  is,  therefore,  a  very  solenm  thought 
that  the  way  in  which  we  are  impressed  by  every  object 
we  consciously  see  or  touch  is  probing  us,  and  will  testify 
for  us  or  against  us  on  the  great  Day  of  God.  Heaven 
grant  that  it  may  testify  for  us  !  Thus  the  two  worlds — 
the  present  and  the  future — are,  in  a  sense,  related  to  each 
other  as  means  to  ends.  What  we  sow  here  we  shall  reap 
there  :  and  the  harvest  will,  of  course,  be  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  seed. 

Accordingly,  I  believe  that  the  new 

iJ^L'^'llTZ  !'«*™-^  ""<?  «^'-*''  -'"  ^^  ele,„entally 

Present.  identical  with  the   heavens  and   earth 

which  now  are.    "Wliat  though  the  earth 

is  to  be  burned  up,  and  the  heavens  are  to  pass  away  with 

a  great  noise,  and  the  very  elements  melt  vrith  fervent 

heat  ?     Dissolution  is  not  annihilation,     Tliere  is  no  re;ison 


288  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

to  suppose  tliat  one  single  atom  of  matter  ever  has  been,  or 
ever  is  likely  to  be,  annihilated.  I  go  into  my  laboratory, 
and  with  my  chemical  apparatus  I  burn  up  a  pound  of 
charcoal.  Have  I  annihilated  the  charcoal?  Yes,  the 
charcoal  as  charcoal,  but  not  the  charcoal  as  consisting  of  a 
pound  of  carbon  atoms  ;  the  pound  of  carbon  atoms  still 
survives.  For  I  carefully  weigh  the  ashes  and  the  smoke 
and  the  gas  of  carbonic  oxide,  and  I  find  that  the  aggre- 
gate weighs  exactly  one  pound  plus  the  oxygen  it  has 
accumulated  in  the  combustion.  I  can  annihilate  a  group 
of  molecules  as  a  group  of  molecules,  i.  e.,  as  a  definite 
mass  of  atoms :  but  I  cannot  annihilate  one  of  the  atoms 
themselves.  I  can  alter  the  phenomena  of  matter,  but  I 
cannot  annihilate  matter  itself.  None  but  the  infinite  God 
Who  created  the  atoms  can  annihilate  an  atom.  And  hav- 
ing created  all  the  atoms,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
He  ever  has  annihilated,  or  ever  will  annihilate,  one  atom. 
When,  therefore,  the  earth  shall  be  burned  up,  and  tlie 
heavens  dissolve,  and  the  elements  melt  with  fervent  heat, 
what  will  become  of  the  atoms  ?  They  will  be  somewhere. 
But  where  ?  Remember,  then,  that  the  atoms  which  by 
God's  creation  and  providential  arrangement  constitute  the 
earth  which  now  is,  constitute  an  altogether  peculiar,  abso- 
lutely unique  mass  of  atoms.  No  other  globe,  so  far  as  we 
know,  can  claim  a  Bethlehem  to  which  the  Creator  of  all 
atoms  stooped,  or  an  Olivet  from  which  the  Creator  of  all 
atoms  soared.  Observe,  also,  that  the  new  heavens  and 
new  earth  are  not  an  absolutely  new,  original  creation  : 
they  are  simply  a  renovation  or  re-creation.  The  Son  of 
God  Himself  expressly  speaks  of  the  next  world  as  a  Palin- 
genesis, or  Second  Genesis.  Listen  :  "  In  the  UaXiyyeve- 
cria — in  the  Beffeneration — when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit 
on  the  throne  of  His  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  on  twelve 


PALINGENESIS.  289 

thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel "  (Matt.  xix.  28). 
Yes,  the  time  is  coming  when  the  Spirit  of  God  sliall  again 
move  over  the  face  of  Nature,  and  quicken  her  into  a  re- 
generate life.  Then  there  shall  be  no  more  cui'se  (Rev.  xxii.  3). 
Then  it  shall  be  seen  that  Creation  was  not  a  failure. 
Purged,  so  to  speak,  in  the  refining  fires  of  the  great  Day 
of  God,  she  shall,  Phoenix-like,  rise  from  her  own  ashes 
into  a  life  larger,  fuller,  stronger,  diviner  than  even  that 
she  received  when,  at  the  close  of  the  Sixth  Day,  the 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth  surveyed  all  that  He  had  made, 
and,  lo,  it  was  very  good.  And  so  shall  be  brought  to  pass 
the  saying  of  the  Evangelical  Prophet :  "  Behold,  I  create 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  :  and  the  former  shall  not 
be  remembered,  nor  come  into  mind  "  (Is.  Ixv.  17). 

And  this  leads  me  to  say  that  though 
i^-h-^^^^^^^om.  ^j^^   j^^^   heavens    and   earth    will    be 
enally  Dinerent.  .     n       .  ■,        .     -, 

atomically  identical  with  the  present, 
yet  they  will,  in  all  probability,  be  very  different  in  aspect. 
The  greatness  of  tlie  cliange  is  sufficiently  hinted  in  the 
Vision  of  St.  John  :  "  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth : 
for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  eartli  had  passed  away ; 
and  there  was  no  more  sea  "  (Rev.  xxi.  i).  Water  is  com- 
posed of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  :  in  the  new  earth  there 
will,  doubtless,  be  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  but  no  longer  in 
the  form  of  oceans.  In  the  matter  of  elementals,  the  new 
earth  will  be  identical  with  the  old ;  in  the  matter  of  phe- 
nomenals,  the  new  earth  will  be  different  from  the  old. 
Chemists  teach  us  that  certain  substances,  notably  sulphur, 
phosphorus,  and  carbon,  exhibit  at  different  temperatures 
different  aspects,  which  variety  of  aspects  they  call  allot- 
ropy :  e.  g.,  carbon  as  coal  is  hard  and  black  ;  carbon  as 
graphite  is  soft  and  iron-gray ;  carbon  as  diamond  is  ada- 
mantine and  dazzling :  and  yet  the  substance,  whether 
13 


290  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

coal,  grapliite,  or  diamond,  is  one  and  the  same  substance, 
namely,  carbon.  Nothing  in  the  realm  of  science  is  better 
established  than  the  convertibility  of  the  forms  of  matter. 
How  Protean  are  the  forms,  e.  g.,  of  water  ?  Let  me  but 
mention  such  words  as  ocean,  vapor,  cloud,  rain,  dew,  snow, 
ice,  frost,  cucumber,  sun-fish.  Indeed,  the  first  volume  of 
the  International  Scientific  Series  is  Professor  T^mdalFs 
monograph,  entitled :  "  The  Forms  of  Water."  Do  not 
presume,  then,  to  limit  the  versatility  of  God's  omnipo- 
tence. It  is  precisely  this  possibility  of  an  indefinite  series 
of  varieties  or  differences  which  has  furnished  the  Apostle 
Paul  with  one  of  his  strong  points  in  his  matchless  argu- 
ment for  the  Resurrection.  Listen :  "  That  which  thou 
sowest,  thou  sowest  not  the  body  that  will  be,  but  a  bare 
kernel,  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other  grain  : 
but  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  f)leased  Him,  and  to 
each  kind  of  seed  a  body  of  its  own.  All  flesh  is  not  the 
same  flesh  :  but  there  is  one  kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another 
flesh  of  beasts,  another  flesh  of  fishes,  another  of  birds. 
There  are  also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but 
the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  tlie  ter- 
restrial is  another.  There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and 
another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars  : 
for  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory.  So  also 
is  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead  "  (i  Cor.  xv.  37-42).  The 
future  body  will  probably  be  atomically  identical  with  the 
present,  but  it  will  be  molecularly  different.  The  new 
earth  will  be  elementally  identical  with  the  old,  but  not 
phenomenally.  Suppose  that  you  had  never  seen  a  plant 
or  an  animal,  or  tliat — if  such  a  suppositioii  is  possible — 
you  had  never  had  even  a  conception  of  them.  Suppose 
that  on  tlie  morning  of  the  Third  Day  of  the  Creative 
"Week  you  had  stood  with  the  inspired  Seer  on  his  Mount 


PALINGENESIS.  291 

of  Panoramic  Vision.  The  just-created,  chaotic  elements 
of  the  universe,  the  organizing  Breath,  tlie  nebulous  light, 
the  separating  expanse,  the  grouping  seas  and  lands,  all 
these  have  passed  before  jou.  And,  beholding  these  won- 
ders, you  might  have  supposed  that  the  Creator's  versatility 
was  exhausted.  But,  lo,  and  this  utterly  beyond  all  range 
of  your  experience,  expectation,  or  conception,  there  spring 
up  on  all  sides  every  variety  of  plant  from  diatom  to  cedar, 
and  every  variety  of  animal  from  amceba  to  elephant. 
You  had  no  conception  of  these  possibilities :  and  yet  these 
possibilities  have  been  actually  realized  in  space  and  in 
time.  And  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  Infinite  One 
has  yet  exhausted  His  resources  of  versatility.  He  wlio 
has  wrought  the  various  past  can  work  a  future  as  various. 
Beware,  then,  how  you  incur,  in  this  matter  of  the  'New 
Heavens  and  Earth,  the  Lord's  rebuke  of  the  Sadducees  in 
the  matter  of  the  Resurrection  :  "  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing 
the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God  "  (Matt.  xxii.  29). 

Observe  now  that  the  Creator  has 
TT    n      ^'^''^  "'°   °  ^^^^  *li6  I16W  hsavens   and    new  earth 

IIis  Promise.  . 

m  His  plan  from  the  verv  beo-inninir : 
"  New  heavens  and  new  earth  do  we  look  for,  according  to 
His  Promise."  That  Promise  He  has  not  only  expressly 
and  frequently  written  in  His  Scripture :  that  Promise  He 
has  engraved  with  His  own  Creative  stylus  in  the  very 
constitution  of  the  material  universe  itself.  All,  how  much 
those  poor  unbelievers  miss,  who,  denying  Creation  and 
Providence,  imagine  the  existing  universe  to  be  but  "a 
fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms,"  drifting  hither  and  thither, 
without  Pilot  or  Goal !  No,  the  end  lias  been  foreseen  and 
provided  for  from  the  beginning.  The  coming  new  heav- 
ens and  earth  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  eternal  Pur- 
pose, older  than  these  ancient  heavens  and  eartli  which 


292  STUDIES   IN   TOE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

now  are  :  for  the  Lamb  was  slain  from  tlie  foundation  of 
the  world  (Rev.  xiii.  8).  Yain  is  it  that  we  have  studied  the 
Story  of  the  Creative  Week  if  we  do  not  see  and  feel  that 
its  real,  consummate  issue  is  the  'New  Heavens  and  Earth. 
For  this  is  that  time  of  the  Restitution  of  all  things,  of 
which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began  (Acts  iii.  21). 

But  the  best  thing  about  the  new 
(..)-Wherein  dwell-  j^e^vens  and  earth  yet  remains  to  be 
eth  Righteousness.        .-,-,,, -^-r         -,  i  ,^ 

told :  "  JN  ew  heavens  and  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  Kighteousness."  Alas,  in  this  present 
evil  world  or  aeon,  Righteousness  is,  as  it  were,  but  an  oc- 
casional visitant,  or  transient  sojourner,  ever  and  anon 
shooting  along  the  sky  of  the  soul  with  the  dazzling  but 
momentary  gleam  of  the  meteor.  In  the  new  heavens  and 
eartli  Righteousness  will  dwell  as  an  immortal  citizen,  eter- 
nally radiant  as  the  sun,  holding  the  universe  by  right  of 
eternal  Bequest,  inheriting  the  kingdom  prepared  for  it 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  (Matt.  xxv.  34).  Ay, 
blessed  are  the  meek  :  for  they  shall  iriherit  tlie  earth,  yea, 
the  very  earth  itself  (Matt.  v.  5).  For  "  the  earth "  of  this 
Beatitude  is  no  more  a  metaphor  than  the  meekness  ;  "  the 
meek  shall  inherit  the  earth."  Tliis  is  the  real  meaning  of 
God's  miglity  Promise  to  Abraham  :  "  Lift  up  thine  eyes 
and  look  from  the  place  where  thou  art,  northward  and 
southward  and  eastward  and  westward  :  for  all  the  land 
which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it :  and  to  thy  seed 
forever"  (Gen.  xiii.  14-1 7).  That  mighty  Promise  has  never 
yet  ])een  fulfilled.  The  redemption  of  that  mighty  Prom- 
ise lies  amid  the  august  certainties  of  the  New  Heavens 
and  New  Earth.  For  as  Abraham,  as  the  Father  of  the 
Faithful,  was  chosen  to  be  Representative  of  the  whole 
Church  of  the  living  God,  so  Canaan  was  chosen  to  be  the 


PALINGENESIS.  293 

representative  of  the  wliole  earth  itself :  and,  therefore, 
Earth  sliall  yet  l)e  the  Church's  inheritance.  And  what  a 
glorious  estate  that  heritage  will  be !  Glorious  because  occu- 
pied by  the  righteous.  Yes,  it  is  luscious  to  read  of  the 
nightless,  deathless,  tearless  City — the  City  of  the  pearly 
gates  and  jeweled  foundations  and  golden  streets  (Rev.  xxi.). 
But  it  is  more  luscious  to  read  these  three  words :  "Wherein 
dwelleth  Righteousness."  Oh,  for  the  speedy  realization 
of  the  blissful  vision  of  that  Holy  Land  where  there  is 
neither  policeman  nor  penitentiary,  neither  magistrate  nor 
statute  book  !  Oh,  that  it  might  be  given  us  to  behold  in 
our  own  day  the  descending  New  Jerusalem,  populous  and 
radiant  with  patriarchs  and  prophets  and  apostles  and  mar- 
tyrs and  countless  saints  of  every  age  and  land  and  name ! 
Oh,  that  we  might  behold  this  very  afternoon  the  descend- 
ing, true  Tabernacle  of  God,  even  His  glorious  Son,  com- 
ing down  again,  no  longer  to  sojourn  among  men,  tarrying 
as  a  wayfarer  for  the  night,  but  to  dwell  for  evermore  with 
them,  and  be  their  God,  and  talk  with  them  in  the  Eden 
of  the  new  earth,  even  as  He  was  wont  to  do  at  the  cool  of 
the  day  in  the  Eden  of  the  old  (Gen.  iii.  8 ;  Rev.  xxi.  2,  3) ! 

*'  0  sweet  and  blessed  country, 
The  home  of  God's  Elect ! 
O  sweet  <and  blessed  country, 
That  eager  hearts  expect ! 
Jesus,  in  mercy  bring  us 

To  that  dear  land  of  rest : 
Who  art,  with  God  the  Father 
And  S[)irit,  ever  blest." 

— (Bernard  of  Cluny.) 

And  so  we  come  to  our  third  and 

„   ■  ~7  .•  ^     "^"  ^  k'^st  point :  The  Apostle's  inference  from 
Expectation.  ^  .         -r\  ■       i      • 

the  Coming  Dissolution  and  the  Com- 


294  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

ino;  Ke-creation  :  *'  Seeing  then  that  tlie  heavens  and  earth 
which  now  are  shall  be  dissolved,  and  that  there  are  to  he 
new  heavens  and  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  Highteous- 
ness,  what  manner  of  persons  onght  ye  to  be  in  all. holy 
behavior  and  godliness,  looking  for  and  hastening  the  com- 
ing of  the  Day  of  God  ?  Wherefore,  beloved,  seeing  that 
ye  look  for  such  things,  give  diligence  that,  being  spotless 
and  blameless,  ye  may  be  found  by  Him  in  peace." 

I  am  aware  that  the  opinion  prevails, 

The  Future  Life  a  ,  ,         •      i  •   ti 

„       ,  T     •    .•         more    or    less    extensively,    especially 

Present  Inspiration.  .     , 

among  thoughtful  men,  that  it  is  a  mark 
of  weakness  to  be  dwelling  much  on  the  Heavenly  Here- 
after. "  Far  better  is  it,"  these  persons  tell  us,  "-  to  dis- 
charge faithfully  the  duties  of  tlie  present  life,  than  to 
concern  ourselves  with  the  future,  es]>ecially  as  that  future 
is  so  little  understood  by  us.  Here,  in  this  life,  at  any 
rate,  at  our  very  feet,  is  a  world  of  suffering,  which  is  to 
be  alleviated :  a  world  of  ignorance,  to  be  enlightened :  a 
world  of  sorrow,  to  be  comforted  :  a  world  of  wickedness, 
to  be  purified.  These  are  present  duties  staring  us  in  the 
face.  And  the  motives  to  the  discharge  of  them,  furnished 
by  the  actual  misery  of  the  race,  are,  or  at  least  ought  to 
be,  sufficiently  powerful,  without  seeking  to  strengthen 
them  by  motives  drawn  from  a  distant  and  comparatively 
obscure  futurity." 

Now,  in  reply  to  this  presentation  of  the  case,  and  I 
think  that  those  who  hold  this  view  will  admit  that  I  have 
presented  it  fairly,  I  answer  that  such  sentiments  are  in- 
deed fine-sounding,  and  really  have  the  appearance  of  a 
superior  gcnerousness  and  magnanimity.  I  further  admit 
that  such  sentiments  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  just.  I  will 
keep  pace  with  the  extremest  of  these  philanthropists,  and 
say  that  our  duties  are  to  bo  found  in  the  sphere  of  the 


PALINGENESIS.  295 

present,  I,  too,  insist  on  it  that  the  noblest  life  a  man  can 
live  is  a  life  of  Christian  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
others.  And  if  a  professing  disciple  of  the  Nazarene  be 
so  intent  on  the  future  that  he  overlooks  the  present — if 
his  eyes  be  so  dazzled  by  the  coming  crown  that  he  sees 
not,  much  less  stoops  to  give  his  helping  hand  to,  the 
shapes  of  Poverty  and  Woe  that  throng  his  pathway  as 
with  flying  feet  he  speeds  on  in  his  selfish  race — I  say  of 
this  professing  Christian  that  he  is  leading  an  ignoble  and 
false  life,  untrue  to  the  world,  untrue  to  himself,  untrue 
to  his  God.  ]^o,  the  truest  life  a  man  can  live  is  a  life  of 
love  to  others  in  view  of  the  Immortality  that  is  proffered 
to  all.  And  the  philanthropy  that  draws  none  of  its  mo- 
tives, the  philanthropy  that  does  not  draw  its  chief  mo- 
tive, from  that  Immortality  which  was  brought  to  light  at 
Joseph's  opened  tomb,  is  an  earth-born,  narrow,  transient 
philanthropy,  born  with  the  butterfly,  and  with  the  butter- 
fly dying.  Tell  a  man  that  though  there  are  to  be  new 
heavens  and  new  earth,  yet  he  had  better  not  dwell  too 
much  on  the  theme — had  better  banish  it  from  liis  thoughts, 
and  leave  the  Hereafter  in  the  hands  of  his  God,  and  de- 
vote himself  to  the  stern  duties  of  the  present :  tell  him 
this  :  and  you  might  as  well  teU  him :  "  There  is  no 
Heaven.  There  is  no  Hereafter."  For  he  will  practically 
say  to  himself :  "  If  the  prizes  of  Immortality  are  to  be 
kept  out  of  mind:  if,  while  I  theoretically  admit  that 
there  is  a  Heaven,  I  am  practically  to  forget  it :  if  I  am  to 
devote  myself  wholly  to  the  present,  even  though  it  be  for 
the  good  of  others,  and  live  in  oblivion  of  the  Hereafter : 
what  is  Immortality  worth  to  me  ?  What  care  I  for  Im- 
mortality ?  Let  m.e  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  I  die." 
I  tell  you,  my  friends,  it  is  only  when  a  man  feels  within 
himself  his  immortality,  and  catches  glimpse  of  the  Pahn 


296  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

and  the  Sceptre  and  tlie  Diadem,  that  he  will  act  like  an 
immortal  being.  Keep  Heaven  out  of  sight,  and  man  will 
believe  himself  to  be  but  an  ephemeron — the  brilliant-hued 
but  short-lived  insect  of  a  day,  conscious,  if  consciousness 
can  be  said  to  belong  to  a  creature  so  ignoble,  of  nothing 
but  the  worm  from  which  it  has  just  sprung,  and  the  dust 
to  which  it  is  swiftly  doomed.  Thank  God,  not  so  did  the 
Apostle  Peter  think.  He  at  least  believed  and  felt  in  his 
inmost  soul  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Future  Life  was  a 
doctrine  of  transcendent  practical  importance  and  power. 
Seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things,  even  the  new  heavens 
and  new  earth,  what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in 
all  holy  conversation  and  godliness,  looking  for  and  hasten- 
ing the  coming  of  the  Day  of  God  ?  Wherefore,  beloved, 
seeing  that  ye  look  for  such  things,  be  diligent,  that  ye  may 
be  found  by  Him  in  peace,  without  spot  and  blameless. 
Ah,  it  was  this  coming  of  the  Day  of  God,  when  the  re- 
turning Nazarene  shall  descend  in  great  power  and  pomp 
to  set  up  His  Kew  Heavens  and  Earth,  that  was  the  Apos- 
tle's grand  inspiration.  I  do  not  think  that  there  could  be 
a  nobler  theme  for  the  greatest  genius  among  earth's  ar- 
tists, whether  painter  or  sculptor,  than  these  three  lines  of 

Watts : 

"  While  vi-e  expect  that  blessed  Hope, 
The  bright  Appearance  of  the  Lord, 
And  Faith  stands  leaning  on  His  word." 

And  observe  :  St.  Peter  not  only  looked  for  and  longed 
for  the  coming  of  the  Day  of  God :  he  also  would,  if  it 
were  possible,  hasten  the  coming,  giving  it  the  accelerat- 
ing, blessed  momentum  of  the  whole  Church's  gravitation  : 
looking  for  and  hastening  the  coming  of  the  Day  of  God. 
And  as  it  was  with  the  Apostle  Peter,  so  was  it  with  the 
whole  church  in  that  pristine  age.     Especially  does  this 


PALINGENESIS.  297 

Apostolic  expectation  of  the  New  Genesis,  or  re-creation 
of  Nature,  gleam  out  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  making  them 
iridescent  with  the  ever-changing  tints  of  the  heavenly 
clime.  Look  at  the  writings  of  this  Hero-Spirit.  Xo  fine, 
unmanly  sentimentalizings  are  there  about  death.  No 
feeble,  effeminate  talk  about  the  peace  and  repose  of  the 
grave.  No  nerveless  lying  down  in  the  funeral  shroud. 
But  the  buckling  on  of  a  stouter  armor — the  straighten- 
ing up  for  a  nobler,  swifter  race — the  breathing  in  for  a 
mightier  grapple  with  the  Powers  of  the  world  to  come. 
Come,  ye  who  think  it  a  weakness  to  be  dwelling  much  on 
the  approaching  sj^lendors,  and  who  deem  it  more  noble 
and  magnanimous  to  forget  the  future  in  an  arduous  and 
unselfish  devotion  to  present  duties:  come,  survey  this 
Hero  of  the  Ages.  Call  ye  him  weak  whose  mighty  spirit 
no  dungeon  could  imj^rison,  no  chains  fetter,  no  Csesar 
daunt,  no  executioner's  axe  rufl[le  ?  Call  ye  him  selfish 
who  could  have  wished,  had  it  been  right  and  j^ossible,  that 
he  were  accursed  from  Christ  for  the  sake  of  his  brethren 
— his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh :  and  yet  who,  not- 
withstanding such  intensity  of  patriotism,  also  felt  tliat  he 
was  debtor  to  Gentile  as  well  as  to  Jew  (Rom.  i.  14,  ix.  3)  ?  Call 
ye  such  a  Hero,  living  though  he  did  in  the  far-off  islands 
that  fleck  the  heavenly  deeps,  weak  and  ignoble  and  selfish  ? 
And  yet  the  secret  of  this  man's  strength  and  grandeur 
and  victory  was  his  hold  on  the  coming  Avorld.  Look,  I 
again  ask  you,  at  the  writings  of  this  kingly  man.  See 
how  they  blossom  with  the  efllorefecence  and  exhale  with 
the  perfumes  of  the  coming  Eden.  In  them  you  behold  a 
translated  soul :  a  man  whose  body  is  on  the  earth  that 
now  is,  but  whose  spirit  is  on  the  earth  that  is  to  be.  It  is 
as  though  that  sea  of  glory,  which  his  fellow-apostle  saw  in 
visions  of  Patmos,  had  been  let  down  with  St.  Paul  when 


298  STUDIES   IN   TUE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

lie  descended  from  tliat  third  heaven  into  which  he  had 
once  been  canght  up,  and  now  swells  and  surges  and  breaks 
in  celestial  thunder  on  the  barriers  and  reefs  of  his  own 
human  but  majestic  diction.  And  as  it  was  in  the  first 
century,  so  it  is  in  the  nineteenth.  The  certainty  of  a 
Hereafter,  big  with  all  manner  of  eternal  weights  of  glory, 
is  still  the  awakening,  purifying,  buttressing,  up]  if  ting  force 
for  Society.  Let  the  sense  of  immortality  once  be  aroused 
— let  the  power  of  an  endless  life  once  be  felt :  and  the 
moral  nature,  however  sunken,  steps  forth  as  from  a  tomb, 
and  rejoices  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race.  "  All  greatest 
souls  stretch  themselves  on  the  framework  of  the  invisi- 
ble :  "  growing  pure  and  strong  and  victorious  by  moving 
in  the  kinship  of  the  coming  eternals.  He  that  hath  this 
Hope  in  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  He  is  pure 
(1  John  iii.  3).  "Wherefore,  brethren,  seeing,  that  ye  look  for 
such  things,  what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all 
holy  behavior  and  godliness,  looking  for  and  hastening  the 
coming  of  the  Day  of  God  ?  Give  all  diligence  then  to 
become  spotless  and  blameless,  and  so,  when  He  comes,  be 
found  by  Him  in  peace.  So  shall  you,  too,  in  company 
with  those  who  have  overcome,  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass, 
mingled  with  fire.  So  shall  you  too  have  haii3s  of  God, 
and  shall  evermore  sing  the  Song  of  Moses,  as  he  chants 
the  ode  of  the  first  Creation,  and  the  Song  of  the  Lamb  as 
He  chants  the  pasan  of  the  Second  (Rev.  xv.  2,  3). 

Such  is  the  twofold  Story  of  Crea- 

A  Farewell  Rrayer.  t-ij         xi     ^   i 

tion — the  story  01  the  Lden  that  has 
been,  and  the  Story  of  the  Eden  that  is  to  be.  May  it  not 
be  in  vain  that  we  have  thus  sped  from  Eden  to  Eden ! 
All  of  us  fellow-sharers  in  the  disinheritance  from  the 
Eden  that  has  been,  may  all  of  us,  through  Grace  abound- 
ing, be  fellow-sharers  in  the  Inheritance  of  the  Eden  that 


PALINGENESIS.  299 

is  to  be  !  This  is  my  farewell  wish  for  each  one  of  you, 
whether  acquaintance  or  stranger.  God  grant  my  prayer 
even  to-day !  So  shall  you  be  numbered  among  the  spirits 
of  the  just  made  perfect,  even  those  righteous  ones  who  are 
to  dwell  on  the  New  Earth  domed  by  the  New  Heavens. 
Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  b.eginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


APPENDIX. 


ARCnETYPAL     FORMS     AND 
TELIG    FIGURATION'S. 


APPENDIX. 

ARCHETYPAL   FORaiS    AND   TELIC    FIGURATIONS/ 

"  My  substance  was  not  liid  from  Thee,  when  I  was  made  in 
secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth. 
Thine  eyes  did  see  my  substance,  yet  being  unperfect ;  and  in  Thy 
book  all  my  members  were  written,  which  in  continuance  were 
fashioned,  when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them." — Psalm  cxxxix. 
15,  16. 

The  theme  we  propose  to  establish 
is  this  :   All  natural  structures  are  Telic 
Figurations  from  Archetypal  Forms. 

At   the  outset,  then,  it  is  needful 
1  iDoUs.       orm  ^1^^^^  ^^^  distino;uish  carefully  between 
and  Figure.  ^  -^ 

Form  and  Figure  :  not  that  the  dis- 
tinction is  to  be  found  in  the  books,  although  it  seems  to 
me  it  ought  to  be.  Form,  in  the  large,  philosophical  sense 
of  the  teiTn,  is  not  so  much  shape  or  visible  outline  as  that 
prior,  ideal  Something  which  constitutes  a  given  thing 
what  it  is — which  is  the  essentiality  of  it.  The  Fomi  is 
the  Idea  existing  independently  of  Matter.  The  figure 
is  the  Form  actualized  in  the  sphere  of  Matter — the  Idea 
materialized.     Thus  the  Form  is  the  essential :  the  figure 

•  The  substance  of  this  Lecturn  was  delivered  some  years  afro  before  the  Philadelphia 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences.  The  author  adds  it  to  the  precedins  series  because  it  is 
pertinent  to  the  greneral  scope  of  the  Creative  Week,  considered  as  a  Precreative  Plan.  It 
is  but  just  to  add  that  the  subject-matter  was  sufrgested  to  him  many  years  apo  in  reading 
"Typical  Forms  and  Special  Ends  in  Creation,"  by  Professors  M'Cosh  and  Dickie. 


304  STUDIES   IN  THE  CREATIVE   WEEK. 

an  incidental.  The  Form  is  invariable  :  the  fignre  vari- 
able. The  Form  is  common  to  a  class  :  the  figure  is  an 
individual  of  that  class.  The  Form  is  the  invisible,  ideal 
Plan  :  the  figure  is  a  visible,  more  or  less  close  copy  from 
that  Plan.  The  Form  is  the  precedent  Idea  :  the  figure 
is  the  Form  as  it  appears  when  it  comes  within  the  range 
of  our  senses.  Let  me  illustrate.  A  caterpillar  passes 
from  the  state  of  the  larva  into  the  state  of  the  butterfly  : 
it  is  an  instance  of  transfiguration,  not  of  transformation. 
True,  we  speak  of  the  change  as  a  "  metamorphosis ; " 
but  the  metamorphosis  is  only  phenomenal — a  change  in 
figure  :  it  is  not  radical,  or  a  change  of  Form  or  identity. 
The  Form,  which  no  mortal  eye  has  seen  or  can  see,  is 
common  to  the  caterpillar  and  the  buttei-fly  :  the  cater- 
pillar and  the  butterfly  are  different  figurations  from  the 
one  invisible  Form.  Were  it  possible  for  the  caterpillar 
to  be  changed  from  an  articulate  into  a  mollusk  or  a  verte- 
brate :  i.  e.,  were  it  possible  for  the  caterpillar  to  undergo 
"  transformation  of  species : "  the  change  would  in  that  case 
be  more  than  a  transfiguration  :  it  would  be  a  transforma- 
tion, or  metamorpliosis  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term. 

This  distinction  between  Form  and 

The      Distinction    pjpr^.^.  seems  tO  be  recognized  in  Script- 
recognized  in  Script-         ^      -p,  .,  -r>  ,  /.  i  j.     xi  • 

ure.     Jb.  ff. :  "  Be  not  connmired  to  this 
ure.  ~  ~ 

world,  but  be  transformed  by  the  re- 
newing of  your  mind;"  i.  e.,  nndergo  more  than  trans- 
figuration— nndergo  transforaiation  (Rom.  xii.  2).  Again  : 
Christ  Jesus,  "  being  in  the  Form  of  God,"  was  "  found 
in  figure  as  a  man  ; "  i.  e.,  the  Pre-incarnate  Son  was  in  the 
Fonn,  the  primal,  essential  Form  of  God  :  the  Incarnate 
Son  appeared  in  the  figure — the  assumed,  incidental  figure 
of  a  man  :  in  other  words,  the  Logos  Incarnate  was,  so  to 
speak,  a  visible  figm'ation  from  the  invisible  Form  of  the 


APPENDIX.  305 

Logos  Pre-incamate  (Phil.  ii.  5-8).  Once  more :  "  Who  will 
transfigure  the  body  of  onr  humiliation,  that  it  may  be 
conformed  to  the  body  of  His  Glory  "  (Phil.  iii.  21).  Human 
identity  lies  not  in  the  visible,  incidental,  variable  figure  : 
it  lies  in  the  invisible,  essential,  archetj'pal  Form.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Resurrection,  or  Spiritual  Body,  is  not  a  re- 
emergence  of  the  figure,  but  a  new  and  nobler  figuration 
from  the  Archetypal  Fonn.  That  Archetypal  Form,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  caterpillar  and  butterfly  just  cited,  is 
common  to  the  present  figure,  or  natural  body,  and  the 
coming  figure,  or  spiritual  body.  It  is  in  that  Arche- 
t}^al  Form  that  the  identity  consists.  The  Resurrection, 
then,  will  be  a  transfiguration,  not  a  transformation.  The 
same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  New  Heavens  and  Earth. 
The  present  heavens  and  the  present  earth  are  to  be  de- 
stroyed, not  in  \\\Qi  sense  of  annihilation,  but  of  transfig- 
uration (2  Peter  iii.  10-13).  The  fashion,  figure,  cryrnxa^  of 
this  world  is  passing  away  (i  Cor.  vii.  31) :  but  the  Form, 
fiopcf)/),  of  it  is  abiding.  In  the  Palingenesis,  when  the  Son 
of  Man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  His  Glory  (Matt.  xix.  28), 
the  new  Cosmos  will  be  identical  in  Fonri  with  the  pres- 
ent, but  it  will  be  a  new  figuration.  In  like  manner,  as 
we  saw  in  the  Tenth  Lecture,  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  in 
creating  man  on  the  Sixth  Day,  was  the  Archetjqjal  Man. 
Foreknowing  all  things  from  the  beginning,  foreseeing 
that  as  Incarnate  He  would  add  to  His  eternal  God- 
head a  human  spirit  and  soul  and  body :  the  Creative 
Word  of  God  (John  i.  1-3),  even  the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  (Rev.  xiii.  8),  speaking,  as  it  would 
seem,  in  the  imperial  plural,  makes  solemn  annunciation : 
"  We  will  make  man  in  Our  Image,  after  Our  Likeness  " 
(Gen.  i.  26).  In  the  order  of  time,  the  Son  of  God  made 
HimseK  like  to  man  :  in  the  order  of  purpose,  the  Son  of 


306  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

God  made  man  like  to  Himself.  Thus  was  Jesns  Christ 
the  Original,  Archetypal  Man.  From  Himself  He  mod- 
eled mankind :  He  the  Form,  mankind  the  figure.  Ah, 
this  it  is  which  constitutes  the  true  dignity  of  Human 
Nature  :  grand  in  its  origin,  grand  in  its  destiny  :  grand  in 
its  origin,  because  modeled  after  Christ's  own  Image  :  still 
grander  in  its  destiny,  because  appointed  to  share  in  the 
ineffable  Glory  awarded  to  Jesus  as  an  incarnate  sufferer  and 
victor  (Phil.  ii.  5-11).  The  Son  of  God  made  man  after 
the  model,  not  of  an  angel,  but  of  Himself ;  the  saint, 
therefore,  renewed  in  the  Image  of  Him  Who  created 
him  (Col.  Hi.  10),  shall  yet  be  exalted  above  angel  and 
archangel,  cherub  and  seraph.  Know  ye  not  that  we 
shall  judge  angels  ?  (i  Cor.  v'.  3).' 

Now  these  primal,  essential,  invari- 

Definition  of  Arche-      i  i  t?  i     j.    t 

able,  unseen  Jborms  are  wJiat  i  mean 

type. 

by  Archetypes.  The  term  itself,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  state,  is  a  compound  word :  apxt'h  ^^- 
ginning,  and  tutto?,  stamp.  An  archetype,  then,  is  the 
prototype,  the  original  fundamental  Form,  the  j^recedent, 
essential  Idea.  As  such  it  does  not  have  an  objective, 
concrete  existence  in  the  world  of  matter.  It  is  only  the 
original  pattern,  the  preexistent  idea,  as  we  suppose  it 
to  lie  in  the  Divine  Mind.  Archetypes  are,  so  to  speak, 
the  Creator's  Thoughts  before  they  are  materialized  into 
or  represented  in  things :  they  are  the  typal  font  of 
God's  Ideas  impressed  on  the  visible  page  of  creation. 
The  material,  objective  universe  is  a  myriadfold  illustra- 
tion of  a  few  Archetypal  Plans  or  Ideas  in  the  Mind  of  the 
Creator. 

*  For  instructive  comments  on  tlie  Scriptural  distinction  between  iiopi^ri  and  o-x^^ia, 
Form  and  Figure,  see  Trencli's  "New  Testament  Synonyms,"  Section  Ixx. ;  Lijjhtfoot's 
"  Notes  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Philipinans,"  pp.  1'25-131 ;  and  Cremor's  "  Biblico-Theokgical 
Lexicon  of  New  Testament  Greek,"  p.  438. 


APPENDIX.  307 

"  "What  time  this  world's  great  Workmaister  did  cast, 
To  make  all  tilings  such  as  we  now  hehold, 
It  seems  that  He  before  His  eyes  had  plast 
A  goodly  patterne,  to  whose  perfect  mould 
He  fashioned  them  as  comely  as  He  could, 
That  now  so  fair  and  seemly  they  appear, 
As  naught  may  be  amended  anywhere. 

That  wondrous  patterne,  wheresoe'er  it  be. 
Whether  in  earth,  laid  up  in  secret  store. 
Or  else  in  heaven,  that  no  man  may  it  see 
With  sinful  eyes,  for  fear  it  to  deflore. 
Is  perfect  beauty." — (Spenser.) 

To  restate :  the  Arclietypal  Doctrine,  then,  is  briefly 

this  :  All  natural  structures  are  visible  figurations,  more 

or  less  exact,  from  ideal  Forms. 

And  now  let  us  glance  at  some  il- 
Illustrations     of   ,      ,      ,.  /•    ,i       t\     x  •  -n 

■     ,   ,      ,-r,  lustrations  oi    the  Doctrine  —  illustra- 

Archetypal  lorms.      .  i  •  i     t 

tions  which,  I  trust,  will  also  serve  as 

confirmations.      The  field  is  universe-wide  :    of  course  I 

must  content  myself  with  selections. 

,,   .  We  take  our  first  illustration  from 

i  rom  Motion. 

the  world  of  Motion.  The  modern 
theory  of  atomic  motion  is  built  upon  the  Idea  of  an 
Arehety])al  Energy,  which  energy  itself  is,  in  the  present 
stage  of  Science,  conceived  as  motion.  In  other  words  : 
the  originating,  initial  Force,  whatever  that  unknow^l 
thing  be,  takes  on  in  action  different  aspects,  guises, 
modes,  figures.  E.  g.,  in  a  lump  of  coal,  which  itself,  we 
are  told,  is  but  a  mass  of  "  condensed  sunbeams,"  Force 
appears  in  the  condition  of  chemical  union  and  molecular 
aggregation  ;  ignite  the  coal,  and  the  Force  assumes  the 
guise  of  heat  and  light :  imprison  the  heat  in  a  boiler  of 
water,  and  the  Force  emerges  in  the  expansive  power  of 
steam ;  let  the  expansive  power  of  steam   press  against 


308  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

a  piston,  and  tlie  Force  reappears  in  the  moving  train  ; 
or  let  it  press  against  brakes,  and  the  Force  reappears  in 
the  heat  of  friction ;  or  let  it  escape  through  the  valve, 
and  the  Force  reappears  in  the  scream  of  the  whistle. 
Sound,  heat,  light,  electricity,  chemical  affinity,  magnet- 
ism, gravitation,  seem  to  be  but  different  modes  of  Mo- 
tion. The  differences  are  phenomenal,  not  elemental ; 
they  are  modifications  of  an  Archetypal  Form,  which,  for 
want  of  a  better  name,  we  call  Force,  Energy,  Motion, 
etc.  In  fact,  this  Idea  is  the  basis  of  the  modern  doc- 
trines of  the  Convertibility  of  Forces  and  Conservation  of 
Energy.  The  Form  is  one  :  the  figures  are  practically  in- 
finite. This  doctrine  of  Convertible  and  Conservative 
Energy,  let  me  remark  in  passing,  is  eminently  true  in 
the  sphere  of  Morals.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  metempsy- 
chosis of  Christian  Service.  Herein  is  fulfilled  the  true 
saying  :  "  One  soweth,  another  reapcth  "  (John  iv.  35-38). 
Genuine  prayer  is,  sooner  or  later,  here  or  there,  conscious- 
ly or  unconsciously,  answered.  If  our  God  doth  not  give 
to  His  beloved  in  their  waking  hours,  He  doth  in  their 
sleep  (Psalm  cxxvii.  3).  Moral  Force,  however  versatile  the 
guises  it  assumes,  is  indestructible. 

Our  next  illustration  we  take  from 

From  Number.  ,011  c  tv-t        i 

the  Sphere  01  JN  umber. 
I  select  for  special  comment  the  number  Three,  which, 
from  its  extreme  prevalence,  we  may  well  call  the  Arche- 
typal Number.  Thus  Three  is  the  basis  of  Geometry  ;  it 
gives  us  the  point,  the  line,  and  the  surface  ;  and  these  are 
the  three  Geometric  elements.  Triangulation  is  itself  one  of 
the  master  keys  of  the  problems  of  Space.  Again  :  Three 
is  the  basis  of  Arithmetic.  Addition  is  the  union  of  two 
numbers,  making  a  third  :  Subtraction  is  the  separation  of 
two  numbers,  also  making  a  third ;  Multiplication  is  but  a 


APPENDIX.  309 

complex  and  swift  addition,  as  Division  is  but  a  complex 
and  swift  subtraction.  The  Rule  of  Three  is  the  Golden 
Rule  of  Arithmetic,  Recall  also  Kepler's  famous  problem 
of  the  Three  Bodies.  Again  :  Three  is  the  basis  of  crys- 
tallography. All  substances  in  solidifying  tend  to  crystal- 
lize. Each  substance  in  crystallizing  takes  on  its  own  fig- 
ure. Each  figure  is  built  on  the  framework  of  three  axes. 
The  Triaxis  is  the  Fundamental  Form  or  Archet}T3e  of  the 
crystal  world.  In  fact,  crystalline  axes  are  the  most  perfect 
samples  of  what  I  mean  by  Archetypes,  because  they  are 
purely  ideal.  And  the  whole  crystal  world  is  built  around 
the  Triaxis.  True,  we  may  have  numerous  sub-classifica- 
tions of  crystals — e.  g.,  the  Monometric,  the  Dimetric,  the 
Trimetric,  the  Monoclinic,  the  Diclinic,  the  Triclinic,  etc. 
— these  terms  taking  their  names  from  the  various  lengths 
and  positions  of  the  respective  axes.  But  though  for  sake 
of  convenience  and  description  we  may  have  these  various 
classifications,  yet  the  Triaxial  conception  includes  them 
all.  The  author  has  amused  himself  for  hours,  not  with- 
out intellectual  and  moral  profit,  in  constructing  numerous 
varieties  of  imaginary  crystal  figures  by  simply  having  a 
triaxial  framework,  the  axes  of  which  could  be  lengthened, 
shortened,  rectangled,  or  inclined  at  pleasure  ;  and  imposing 
on  the  ends  of  these  axes,  according  to  their  various  lengtlis 
and  positions,  tin  surfaces  of  various  geometrical  figures, 
e.  g.,  squares,  parallelograms,  triangles,  rhombs,  etc.,  and 
so  building  up  before  his  very  eyes  a  crystal  figure- world. 
The  ideal  Triaxis  is  the  common,  invariable,  fundamental 
framework  or  Archetj^al  Form  :  actual  crystals  are  im- 
posed, diversified  figures.  How  simple  the  Form  !  How  in- 
finite the  figures !    And  this  is  tnie  for  all  worlds, '    Again  : 

'  "  New  on'stalline  forms  (flt^ures  ?)  iiiipht  be  found  in  the  depths  of  Space,  but  the  laws 
of  crystallography  would  be  the  same  that  are  displayed  before  us  among  the  crystals  of 


310  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

Three  is  the  basis  of  Architecture,  and,  indeed,  of  every 
human  structure.  E.  g. :  AVhen  the  axes  are  equal  and 
rectangular,  we  have  the  cubical  style,  as  the  square  fort, 
or  the  square  meeting-house  of  the  Pilgrims.  Inscribe 
a  sphere  in  a  cube,  and  bisect  it ;  the  hemisphere  be- 
comes a  dome,  as  the  Pantheon.  Or  when  the  axes  are 
unequal  and  rectangular,  we  have  the  prismatic  style,  as  the 
Parthenon,  the  Cruciform,  etc.  Inscribe  a  cylinder  in  a 
prism,  and  we  have  the  column.  The  Gothic  arch  is  the 
segment  of  a  dome,  or  a  cylindered  prism.  Thus,  from 
the  Archetypal  Form  of  three  axes  we  can  figurate  an 
endless  variety  of  structures.  Again  :  Three  is  the  basis 
of  Mechanics  :  a  something  to  be  moved,  a  moving  force, 
and  an  instniment :  these  are  the  three  essentials  of  Dy- 
namics. Again  :  Three  is  the  basis  of  Society :  Father, 
Mother,  Child  :  from  these  Three  Humanity  in  all  its 
manifold  relations  is  derivable.  Once  more  :  Three  is  the 
basis  of  Man :  Spirit,  Soul,  Body,  Trvevfia,  ylrvx>h  o-cofj.a ; 
these,  according  to  Holy  Scripture,  are  the  three  compo- 
nents of  Man.  Thus,  everywhere  in  the  universe  we  see 
the  number  Three  ;  and  so  everywhere  in  the  universe  we 
may  seo  a  suggestion  of  the  ever  Blessed  and  Adorable 
Trinity.  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to 
the  lioly  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and 
ever  shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 

So,  too,  the  laws  of  Gravitation,  Statics,  Acoustics, 
Chemics,  Optics,  Pneumatics,  Magnetics,  Astronomies ; 
the  angles  of  Crystals,  the  spirals  of  Plants,  the  tentacles 
of  Eadiates,  the  whorls  of  Mollusks,  the  rings  of  Articu- 

the  earth.  A  text  book  on  Crystallofrraphy,  Physics,  or  Celestial  Mechanics,  printed  in 
our  printinpr-otlices,  would  servo  for  the  universe.  The  universe,  if  open  throughout  to 
our  explorations,  would  vastly  expand  our  knowledL'e,  and  Science  mifrht  have  a  more 
beautiful  superstructure  ;  but  its  basement  laws  would  be  the  same."— (Dana'  s  "  Ma>-uai. 
OF  Geology,"  pp.  3,  4.) 


APPENDIX.  311 

lates,  the  teeth  of  Vertebrates,  the  measures  of  Poetry  and 
Music,  etc. ;  these  are  all  reducible  to  numerical  language. 
It  is  possible  that  some  Newton  may  yet  discover  some 
Archetypal  Number  or  Numerical  Fonn  which  shall  be 
common  to  all  these  endlessly-varied  figures.  Nor  should 
we  forget  to  mention  the  Archetypal  Seven  of  Holy 
Scripture.  Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  good  deal  of  tnith 
in  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  that  Numbers  are  the 
Princijpia  of  the  Universe,  the  essence  of  all  things,  the 
Paradigms,  Trapahecyfiara^  of  all  that  is.  Not  altogether 
fanciful  is  it  to  talk  Avith  him  of  the  "Music  of  the 
Spheres." 

"  From  harmony,  from  heavenly  harmony, 
This  universal  frame  began  : 
When  Nature  underneath  a  heap 

Of  jarring  atoms  lay, 
And  could  not  heave  her  head. 
The  tuneful  voice  was  heard  from  high, 

Arise,  ye  more  than  dead. 
Then  cold,  and  hot,  and  moist,  and  dry, 
In  order  to  their  stations  leap. 
And  Music's  power  obey. 
From  harmony,  from  heavenly  harmony 
This  universal  frame  began: 
From  harmony  to  harmony. 
Through  all  the  compass  of  the  notes  it  ran, 
The  diapason  closing  full  in  Man." 

—("St.  Cecilia's  Dat.") 

Our  next  illustration  we  take  from 
From  Embryology.  ^^^^   ^.^^^^^^  ^^   Primordial   Life.     It   is 

the  teaching' of  modern  Science  that  every  component  of 
every  organic  structure  is  built  on  the  Idea  of  an  Arche- 
typal Cell,  or  rather  Bioplast,  the  departures  being  telic. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  startling  disclosures  of  the  Micro- 


312  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

scope.  However  vast  the  difference  between  the  full- 
grown  plant  and  the  full-grown  animal,  plant  and  animal, 
at  least  so  far  as  our  present  optical  powers  extend,  seem 
gradually  to  approach  each  other  as  we  analyze  their  com- 
ponent parts,  and  finally  meet  in  an  apparently  common  kind 
of  structure — the  individual,  stnictureless,  elementary  bio- 
plast. The  Archetypal,  Ideal  Bioplast  is  the  Form ;  the 
actual  plant  or  animal  is  a  visible  figuration  from  that  invis- 
ible Form.  Every  actual  cell  is  the  transfiguration  of  the 
Archetypal  cell  for  a  specific  purpose  :  say,  e.  g.,  for  pro- 
ducing, in  the  plant,  fibre ;  or,  in  the  animal,  man.  Thus 
there  is  community  as  well  as  simplicity  of  Plan  in  ele- 
mental structure  throughout  the  Organic  w^orld.  Yet  what 
endless  variety  of  modification  for  special  purposes  !  How 
diverse,  e.  g.,  are  leaf,  and  pollen,  and  bark — epidermis,  and 
muscle,  and  bone,  and  hair,  and  blood,  and  brain  ! 

Let  Botany  furnish  us  with  our  next 

illustration.      The  modern  doctrine  of 

Yegetable  Morphology  is  this  :    Every  part  of  a  plant  is 

built  on  the  Idea  of  an  Archetypal  Leaf,  the  departures 

being  telic. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  indulge  in  a  brief  his- 
toric survey.  In  the  year  1759,  Wolff  announced  his  be- 
lief in  the  identity  of  all  the  various  parts  of  a  plant.  His 
language  is  :  "  In  the  whole  plant  we  see  nothing  but  leaves 
and  stalk."  His  idea  was  that  the  different  parts  of  a 
flower  are  nothing  but  green  leaves  in  a  state  of  arrested 
development.  Here  is  a  glimpse  of  our  theory  as  applied 
to  the  vegetable  kingdom,  viz.  :  all  the  parts  of  a  plant 
are  figurations  from  an  Archetypal  Leaf.  Linnneus,  in 
his  "  Prolepsis  Plantarum,"  published  somewhere  between 
1Y60  and  1770,  uses  this  singular  phrase :  "  The  princi- 
ple of  flowers  and  leaves  is  the  same."     He  declared  that 


APPENDIX.  313 

the  calyx,  corolla,  stamens,  pistils,  are  each  evolved  in  suc- 
cession from  the  leaf,  and  this  evolution  he  styled  prol€j)sis, 
or  anticij^ation.  His  idea  was  this  :  When  a  plant  produces 
a  flower,  Nature  anticipates  the  regular  jjractice  of  several 
years ;  that  is  to  say,  the  plant,  instead  of  bearing  regular 
green  leaves  several  years  in  succession,  suddenly  brings 
them  all  out  simultaneously,  so  that  the  leaves,  instead  of 
being  usually-shaped  and  green,  become  the  different 
parts  of  the  flower.  In  other  words,  the  flower-leaves  are 
stem-leaves  anticipated.  Here  we  have  an  awkward,  bun- 
gling, violent  attempt  by  the  great  botanist  to  account  for 
what  he  felt  to  be  true,  and  what  has  since  been  shown  to 
be  true,  viz.,  the  community  of  structure  throughout  all 
the  parts  of  a  plant.  But  the  first  distinct  enunciation 
and  elaborate  unfolding  of  the  grand  principle  which  is 
now  recognized  in  the  councils  of  Science  as  the  funda- 
mental law  of  vegetable  morphology  was  made,  not  by  an 
eminent  physicist,  but  by  a  poet  of  singularly  creative  fancy, 
the  weird  genius  to  whose  name  "  Faust "  has  given  immor- 
tality. In  1790,  Goethe  gave  to  the  world  liis  famous 
"  Yersuch,  die  Metamorj^hose  der  Pflanzen  zu  erklaren." 
His  idea  was  this  :  All  parts  of  a  plant  are  metamorphoses 
of  its  original  principle.  "  Possessed  with  the  idea  of  a 
poetic  synthesis  in  !N^ature,"  and  impelled  by  the  over- 
mastering idea  of  unity  in  the  vegetable  world,  he  con- 
ceived that  every  part  of  a  plant — leaf,  calyx,  corolla,  stamen, 
pistil,  fruit — is  a  successive  metamorphosis  of  the  original 
cotyledon.  Goethe  was  right  in  reducing  every  part  of  a 
plant  to  a  community  of  form.  But  Goethe  was  wrong  in 
representing,  e.  g.,  the  plant-leaves  as  metamoi'phosed 
stem-leaves.  The  true  theory  is  this :  not  only  the  floral 
organs,  but  every  part  of  the  plant,  are  flgurations  for 
special  ends  from  what  we  call  an  Archetypal  Leaf  :  that 
14 


314  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

is  to  say,  every  part  of  the  plant  is  constructed  on  the 
model  of  an  Archetypal  Leaf,  Wolff  in  1759,  Linnaeus 
between  1760  and  1770,  Goethe  in  1790,  De  Candolle  in 
1827,  and  Schleiden  in  1836,  alike  asserted  the  commu- 
nity of  structure  in  the  folial  and  the  floral  leaves.  Wolff 
explained  it  on  the  theory  of  arrested  development ;  i.  e., 
as  tlie  sap  ran  higher  it  was  less  pure,  and  hence  the  flower 
was  an  evidence  of  imperfection.  Linnaeus  explained  it 
on  the  theory  of  anticipation.  Goethe  explained  it  on 
the  theory  of  metamorphosis,  or  development  by  elabo- 
rated sap  ;  i.  e.,  as  the  sap  ran  higher,  it  became  more 
refined,  and  so,  in  opposition  to  Wolff,  the  flower  was 
an  evidence  of  perfection.  De  Candolle  and  Schleiden 
explained  it  on  the  theory  of  a  modified  Archetj^al  Leaf, 
And  this  latter  theory  may  now  be  considered  as  estab- 
lished. Accordingly,  Professor  Schleiden  has  constructed 
the  figure  of  a  full-grown  Archetypal  Plant,  every  part  of 
which  from  radix  to  pistil  suggests  a  leaf.  Kot  that  there 
is  actually  existing  in  the  world  of  matter  such  a  thing  as 
an  Archetypal  Leaf  or  Plant,  Schleiden's  Idea  of  Leaf 
and  Plant  is  a  scientific  creation,  conceived  for  the  purpose 
of  meeting  as  approximately  as  possible  the  Archetypal 
Plan  as  existing  in  the  Precreative  Mind.  Approximately, 
I  say ;  for  since  Science,  in  consequence  of  the  limitations 
of  our  finitehood,  must  necessarily  always  be  more  or  less 
imperfect,  we  can  discover  the  Divine  Plans  or  Archetypes 
only  imperfectly.  It.  becomes  us,  then,  when  explaining 
these  Archetypal  thoughts  of  God,  to  proceed  with  diffi- 
dence and  caution.  This,  in  fact,  is  the  real  end  of  Science, 
viz.,  to  discover,  if  possible,  these  moulding,  typal  thoughts 
of  God.  And  each  science  is  false,  or  at  least  fails  of  its 
proper  end,  in  proportion  as  it  leads  us  away  from  these 
primal,  modeling  thoughts  of  God.     And  each  science  is 


APPENDIX.  315 

true,  in  proportion  as  it  helps  ns  to  discover,  and  worship- 
fully  live  over  again,  the  moulding,  archetypal  thoughts  of 
God,  anterior  to  His  Creative  Fiat.  Nor  is  this  theory, 
that  every  part  of  an  actual  plant  is  a  figuration  from  an 
Ideal,  Archetypal  Leaf,  a  mere  conceit.  It  seems  to  be 
proved  by  the  changes  actually  occurring  in  plant-life,  as 
affected  by  accidents  of  position,  nutriment,  exposure,  cul- 
ture, retarded  and  accelerated  developments,  etc.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  leaves  do  sometimes  glide  into  bracts,  or 
into  sepals,  sepals  into  petals,  petals  into  stamens,  and  even 
stamens  into  pistils.  The  theory  is  confirmed  by  the  phe- 
nomena of  monstrosities,  so  called.  In  fact,  the  art  of  hor- 
ticulture is  based  on  this  idea  of  modifying  the  Arche- 
typal Leaf.  The  cultivated  flowers  of  our  gardens,  such 
as  the  rose,  tulip,  camellia,  double  or  neutral  flowers,  are 
examples  of  "  metamorphosed  leaves,"  or  rather  they  are 
transfigurations  of  the  Archetypal  Leaf  or  Form.  Thus 
the  whole  vegetable  world,  with  its  hundred  thousand  spe- 
cies of  flora,  has  community  of  Plan,  built  throughout 
on  the  Idea  of  an  Archet}^al  Leaf. 

Let  the  Animal  Kingdom  supply  us 

From  Anatomy.  .   ^  a  a   ./ 

With  our  next  illustration. 
Suppose  we  were  endowed  with  creative  power,  and 
were  purposing  to  make  a  world  with  as  many  different 
animals  in  it  as  there  actually  are  in  this.  Two  methods 
would  lie  before  us.  Either  we  might  make  each  animal 
independently  of  every  other,  so  that  there  would  be  noth- 
ing common  to  any  two  animals,  except  by  accident  or 
whim  :  or  we  might  have  one,  two,  three,  or  more  plans,  ac- 
cording to  one  of  which  we  would  make  one  class  of  ani- 
mals, according  to  another  of  which  a  second  class,  and  so 
on.  This  latter — reverently  I  say  it — has  been  the  Crea- 
tor's method.   Hence  the  Protozoates,  Radiates,  MoUuskates, 


316  STUDIES  IN  THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

Articulates,  Vertebrates,  of  Comparative  Anatomy.  Let  us 
confine  onr  attention  to  that  department  to  which  we  our- 
selves belong — the  Vertebrates.  The  modern  doctrine  of 
Osteology  is  this :  Every  part  of  every  skeleton  is  built  on 
the  Idea  of  an  Archetypal  Vertebra,  the  departures  being 
telic. 

As  in  the  case  of  Plants,  so  here,  let  me  give  a  brief 
historic  sketch.  If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  grand  concep- 
tion of  Unity  in  Nature  led  an  illustrious  poet  to  the  theory 
of  vegetable  metamorphosis,  in  order  to  account  for  the 
similarity  of  structure  in  plants,  we  need  not  be  sui*prised 
that  the  same  conception  should  have  led  the  same  poet  to 
the  theory  of  osseous  metamorphosis,  in  order  to  account 
for  the  similarity  of  stnicture  in  certain  animals.  Profes- 
sional anatomists,  indeed,  sneered  at  the  illustrious  poet,  as 
a  "  dabbler  in  comparative  anatomy,  who  mistook  his  vo- 
cation when  he  left  Parnassus  for  cabbages  and  bones." 
But  Goethe,  though  no  mathematician  or  physicist,  as  the 
signal  failure  of  his  doctrine  of  colors  in  opposition  to 
Newton  shows,  though  no  metaphysician,  was  truly  poet 
and  philosopher.  In  fact,  the  line  which  separates  the 
great  poet  from  the  great  philosopher  is  the  narrowest  pos- 
sible, being,  so  to  speak,  a  line  contingent  rather  than  a  line 
absolute.  A  great  philosopher  is  a  great  poet  with  his 
wings  undeveloped.  A  great  poet  is  a  great  philosopher 
with  his  wings  clipped.  Between  the  "  Novum  Organon  " 
and  the  "  Hamlet "  is  but  an  infant's  tiny  step.  Bacon  and 
Shakespeare  need  to  have  changed  scarcely  more  than  cir- 
cumstances to  have  changed  fames.  It  is  not  strange,  then, 
that  a  great  poet — a  true,  real  poet — should  have  discov- 
ered, among  cabbages  and  bones,  sublime  tniths  of  which 
professional  and  merely  scientific  botanists  and  anatomists 
had  never  dreamed.     Now  to  Goethe  belongs  the  credit  of 


APPENDIX.  317 

being  the  founder  of  the  grand  doctnne  of  Typal  Organic 
Morphology,  i.  e.,  the  doctrine  that  animals,  as  well  as 
plants,  are  constructed,  with  more  or  less  of  modifications, 
after  certain  Archetypes.  The  structure  of  man  had  al- 
ways been  separated  from  that  of  even  the  highest  animals 
by  the  assumed  fact  that  man  had  no  intermaxillary  bone. 
But  Goethe,  in  1784,  discovered  this  precise  bone  in  man. 
Impelled  and  guided  by  the  grand  conception  of  Unity  in 
Nature,  he  reasoned  in  this  way :  All  animals  having  in- 
cisor teeth  have  also  an  intermaxillary  bone :  man  has 
incisor  teeth ;  therefore  man  has  an  intermaxillary  bone. 
"  Anatomists,  lost  in  details,  and  wanting  that  fundamental 
conception  which  now  underlies  all  philosophical  anatomy, 
saw  no  abstract  necessity  for  such  identity  of  composition, 
the  more  so  as  evidence  seemed  M'holly  against  it.  But 
Goethe  was  not  only  guided  by  the  true  philosophic  con- 
ception ;  he  was  also  instinctively  led  to  the  true  method  of 
demonstration,  viz.,  the  comparison  of  the  various  modifi- 
cations which  this  bone  underwent  in  the  animal  series. 
This  method  has  now  become  the  method,  and  we  need  to 
throw  ourselves  into  the  historic  position  to  appreciate 
its  novelty  at  the  time  Goethe  employed  it.  He  found,  on 
comparison,  that  the  bone  varied  with  the  nutrition  of  the 
animal  and  the  size  of  its  teeth.  lie  found,  moreover,  that 
in  some  animals  the  bone  was  not  separated  from  the  jaw ; 
and  in  children  the  sutures  were  traceable.  He  admitted 
that,  seen  from  the  front,  no  trace  of  the  sutures  was  visi- 
ble, but  on  the  interior  there  were  unmistakable  traces. 
Examination  of  the  foetal  skull  has  since  set  the  point  be- 
yond dispute." '     Now  the  discovery,  in  1784,  on  what  we 

'  "  Life  and  Works  of  Goethe,"  by  G.  H.  Lewes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  140.  This  entertaining-  biog- 
rapher adds  :  "  I  have  seen  one  (a  skull)  where  the  bone  was  distinctly  separated ;  and  I 
possess  the  skull  of  a  female,  the  ossification  of  which  is  far  advanced  at  the  parietal  sutures, 
yet  internally  the  traces  of  the  intermaxillary  are  visible." 


318  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

may  call  an  a  priori  method,  of  the  intermaxillary  bone, 
was  the  prelude  to  Goethe's  Essay  on  the  "  Metamorphosis 
of  Plants,"  published  in  1790,  and  also  to  his  "  Sketch  of 
the  Universal  Introduction  to  Comparative  Anatomy,  be- 
ginning with  Osteology,"  published  in  1795,  Here  we 
have  the  first  distinct  recognition  of  an  osteological  Arche- 
type, To  say  nothing  of  the  testimonies  of  Carus,  St.- 
Hilaire,  and  others,  let  me  cite  the  testimony  of  Richard 
Owen,  a  supreme  authority  in  such  matters :  "  Goethe  had 
taken  the  lead  in  inquiries  of  this  nature,  by  his  determi- 
nation of  the  homology  of  that  part  of  the  human  upper 
maxillary  bone  which  is  separated  by  a  more  or  less  exten- 
sive suture  from  the  rest  of  the  bones  in  the  foetus ;  and 
the  philosophical  principles,  propounded  in  the  great  phi- 
losopher's anatomical  essays,  called  forth  the  valuable  la- 
bors of  the  kindred  spirits,  Oken,  Bajanus,  Meckel,  Carus, 
and  other  eminent  cultivators  of  anatomical  philosophy."  ' 
Before  dismissing  Goethe,  it  may  be  interesting  to 
allude  to  a  curious  charge  of  plagiarism  alleged  against  the 
illustrious  poet.  It  is  the  fashion  to  ascribe  the  Vertebral 
Theoiy  of  the  Skull  to  Lorenz  Oken.  The  current  story 
is  that,  while  rambling  in  the  Hartz  Mountains,  Oken  picked 
up  the  bleached  skull  of  a  roebuck,  and,  after  contemplating 
the  partially  separated  bones,  exclaimed  :  "  It  is  a  vertebral 
column ! "  Now  here  is  another  curious  story :  During  one 
of  his  rambles  in  the  Jewish  cemetery  near  Venice,  Goethe 
picked  up  the  skull  of  a  ram  which  had  been  cut  longitudi- 
nally, and,  on  examining  it,  the  idea  occurred  to  him  that 
the  face  was  composed  of  three  vertebrre.  Goethe  declares 
that  he  made  his  discovery  in  1790.  Oken  declares  that 
he  made  his  discovery  in  1806.  Here  is  a  difference  of 
sixteen  years  between  the  two  alleged  discoveries.     Now, 

»  "  Archetypo  and  Uumologics  of  the  Vertebrate  Skeleton." 


APPENDIX.  319 

if  there  be  any  plagiarism  in  the  affair,  which  is  the  plagi- 
arist ?  Oken,  who  survived  Goethe  a  score  of  years,  de- 
fends his  own  claim  with  the  ardor  of  personal  and  possibly 
piqued  pride.  Lewes  defends  Goethe's  claim  with  the 
ardor  of  an  admiring  biographer.  A  comparison,  such  as 
Lewes  himself  suggests,  probably  gives  the  right  solution. 
"  Goethe  had  an  apergu  which  he  did  not  develop.  Oken 
had  an  apergu  which  he  demonstrated  in  detail.  In  Goethe's 
mind  it  was  one  of  the  many  applications  of  a  fundamental 
conception  of  organic  evolution — a  conception  which  led 
to  his  discovery  of  the  intermaxillary.  In  Oken  it  was  a 
special  problem,  which  a  young  anatomist  set  himself  to 
solve."  *  In  other  words,  Goethe  conceived  the  idea,  Oken 
demonstrated  the  fact. 

But  to  resume  the  thread  of  the  history.  In  1795, 
Goethe  published  his  "Animal  Morphology."  In  1807, 
Oken  published  his  "  Signification  of  the  Bones  of  the 
Skull,"  in  which  he  maintains  that  these  bones  are  equal 
to  four  vertebrae.  In  1815,  Spix,  in  his  "  Cephalogene- 
sis,"  reduced  the  cranial  vertebrae  to  three,  and,  moreover, 
extended  the  application  of  the  Yertebr^il  Theory  to  the 
heads  of  all  classes  of  animals,  especially  of  fishes.  In 
1824,  St.-Hilaire  presented  a  lithographic  plate  to  the 
French  Academy,  entitled  "  Composition  de  la  Tete  Osseuse 
chez  rHomme  et  les  Animaux."  In  1834,  Cams  main- 
tained the  idea  that  the  entire  skeleton  is  nothing  but  a 
vertebra  repeated.  In  1848,  Owen  published  his  "  Arche- 
type and  Homologies  of  the  Vertebrate  Skeleton,"  in  which 
he  has  done  immense  service  by  giving  to  the  Archetypal 
Doctrine  a  scientific  form,  and  by  inventing  an  admirably 
expressive  terminology.  In  1856,  M'Cosh  published  his 
^'  Typical  Forms  and  Special  Ends  in  Creation,"  in  which 

«  "Life  of  Goethe,"  voL  ii.,  p.  161. 


320  STUDIES  IN   THE   CREATIVE  WEEK. 

lie  seeks,  as  his  main  object,  to  show,  and,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  triumphantly,  that  modifications  of  or  departures  from 
the  Archetype  are  telic.     But  I  shall  recur  to  this. 

Meantime,  observe  what  our  proposition  is.  It  is  this  : 
Every  bone  of  every  vertebrate  animal  is  copied,  with 
more  or  less  of  closeness,  from  some  part  of  an  Archetypal 
Vertebra.  The  simple  fact  that  animals  differing  from 
one  another  so  much,  e.  g.,  as  the  trout,  and  toad,  and 
turtle,  and  viper,  and  eagle,  and  mouse,  and  whale,  and 
man,  are  nevertheless  referable  to  one  and  the  same  class, 
viz.,  the  Vertebrate,  shows  that  there  is  some  Idea,  Plan, 
Type,  Form,  common  to  them  all.  That  common  Form 
is  the  Vertebral  Idea  ;  hence  they  are  called  Vertebrates. 
It  does  not  need  the  practised  eye  of  one  initiated  in  the 
mysteries  of  Comparative  Anatomy  to  detect  the  general 
resemblance  between  the  skeletons  of  these  various  animals. 
What  deceives  us  is  that  which  is  imposed  on  the  frame- 
work of  the  animal,  such  as  flesh,  skin,  feathers,  shell,  fur, 
scales.  Remove  all  the  soft  parts  from  the  skeletons  of  a 
man,  a  dog,  an  ostrich,  a  lizard,  a  salmon,  leaving  only  the 
bony  framework,  and  even  an  unprofessional  will  perceive 
a  general  resemblance.  The  skeleton  of  a  creeping  infant 
is  like  that  of  a  quadruped  ;  the  skeleton  of  a  man  recum- 
bent is  like  that  of  a  fish.  The  penguin  is  a  bird  ;  yet  its 
wings  remind  us  of  the  fins  of  a  fish ;  its  wings  and  feet,  of 
a  quadruped ;  its  erect  posture,  of  a  man.  These  exam- 
ples are  enough  to  show  us  that  a  common  Idea  per- 
vades the  Vertebrate  Kingdom  :  and  that  Idea  is  the 
Vertebra.  Accordingly,  as  Schleiden  has  constructed  an 
Archetypal  Leaf  and  Plant,  wliich  Plant  is  but  the  Leaf 
repeated  and  modified  for  specific  purposes,  so  Owen 
has  constnacted  an  Archetypal  Vertebra  and  Skeleton, 
which  Skeleton,  in  its  turn,  is  but  the  Vertebra  repeated 


APPENDIX.  321 

and  modified  to  meet  special  requirements,  Not  that 
this  Archetypal  Vertebra  or  Skeleton  has  an  actual,  ob- 
jective existence  in  the  world  of  matter :  it  is  conceived 
to  be  the  Primal,  Ideal  Fonn,  from  which  every  actual 
vertebra  and  skeleton  is  a  figuration.  And  this  Ideal  Form 
or  Archetype,  as  is  evident  from  a  glance  at  Owen's  dia- 
grams, is  common  to  the  skeleton  of  the  Fish,  the  Keptile, 
the  Bird,  and  the  Mammal.  Yet  the  modifications  of  the 
Archetypal  Yertebra,  to  meet  the  distinct  needs  of  differ- 
ent animals,  are  endlessly  varied.  How  different,  e.  g.,  are 
the  fins  of  fishes,  the  wings  of  birds,  the  forelimbs  of  quad- 
rupeds, the  arms  of  man  !  Nevertheless,  they  are  homo- 
logues,  i.  e.,  the  same  structural  organ  under  a  variety  of 
figures.  According  to  Sir  Charles  Bell,  "  the  bat's  wing  is 
a  highly-organized  hand."  The  horse  has  one  finger,  the 
ox  two,  the  rhinoceros  three,  the  hippopotamus  four,  the 
elephant  five.  And  the  Yertebral  Idea  is  common  to  them 
all.  And  it  is  true  of  the  entire  skeleton  of  each.  It 
is  asserted  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  bones  of  the  hu- 
man skeleton  have  their  namesakes  or  homologues  in  the 
skeletons  of  all  vertebrates.  That  is  to  say :  the  Arche- 
typal Fomi  is  one ;  the  figurations  are  practically  count- 
less. And  it  has  been  so  from  the  beginning,  when  the 
first  Ganoid  darted  in  the  Silurian  Sea.  The  Archet^-pal 
Yertebra  has  been  the  ideal,  initial,  potential,  invariable, 
common  Form ;  the  actual  bone  has  been  a  modified, 
specialized,  telic  figuration. 

Our  last  illustration  we  take  from 

From  Man.  ,  .  /.  t.  r 

the  realm  oi  Man. 

The  Ideas  of  Space  and  Time  and  Cause ;  tlie  axioms 

of  Geometry  and  Mechanics  and  Psychology ;  the  Ethical 

Intuitions ;  the  unconscious,  automatic  Fornnilas  of  Life : 

what   are   these   but  Archetyj^al   Ideas   or   Forms  ?     All 


323  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

tlionglit  and  sentiment  and  pnrj^ose  crystallize,  or  rather 

move,  about  a  few   axiomatic  axes.     Axioms  are,  so  to 

speak,  the  Archetypal  Yertebrae  of  all  thinking  and  feeling 

and  willing  and  acting.     What  simplicity  of  Plan !     What 

infinitude  of  detail ! 

„    „     ,.      „ .  I  have  thus  endeavored  to  show,  by 

Pi-ofundity  of  An-  .  -n     ,     ^.  xi    ^     n  \- 

cient  Utterances.      fPecimen  illustrations,  that  all  creation 

is  modeled  after  a  few  simple  Plans. 
How  significant,  in  light  of  this  Doctrine,  are  some  of  the 
utterances  of  antiquity !  E.  g.,  of  Bacon,  when  he  said : 
"  Forms  are  the  True  Objects  of  Knowledge."  Of  the 
Mediaeval  Realists,  when  they  affirmed  :  "  The  Class  exists 
before  the  Individual."  Of  the  author  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  when  he  wrote :  "  Through  faith  we  per- 
ceive that  the  world  was  framed  by  the  Word  of  God ; 
so  that  not  from  tlie  things  which  appear  was  made  that 
which  is  seen : "  that  is  to  say,  the  visible  world  is 
modeled  after  an  invisible.  Of  Aristotle,  when  he  assert- 
ed :  "  Forms  are  as  necessary  to  the  Universe  as  Matter." 
Of  Plato,  when  he  declared :  "  God  is  the  Maker  of 
Forms."  Of  David,  when  he  sang :  "  My  form  was  not 
hidden  from  Thee,  when  I  was  made  in  secret,  was  curi- 
ously wrought  in  the  depths  of  the  earth:  Thine  eyes 
saw  my  unformed  substance,  and  in  Thy  book  were  all 
my  members  written ;'  day  by  day  were  they  fashioned, 
when  there  was  none  of  them." 

And  we  may  bless  the  Creator  that 
■    T^l!  ^^.^^^    ^   ^    He  was  pleased  to  construct  the  universe 

SIS  of  Classification.  J^  .it  -n       •     •      i 

after  a  few,  simple  Plans.  For  it  is  the 
fact  that  there  are  Archetypal  Forms  which  makes  scien- 
tific classification  possil)le.  Tliere  are  two  methods  of 
classification :  the  artificial,  which  groups  according  to  in- 
cidentals ;    and  the  natural,  which   groups    according   to 


APPENDIX.  323 

essentials.  It  is  the  figure  which  is  incidental ;  it  is  the 
Form  which  is  essential.  The  Archetypal  Form  is  coiu- 
mon  to  an  indefinite,  practically  infinite  number  of  figures, 
and  so  is  the  characteristic  of  each.  In  fact.  Type  and 
Character,  Tyvro?  and  x^paKr/jp,  are  synonymous,  meaning 
impress,  mark,  sign,  and  so  characteristic.  Accordingly, 
it  is  the  recognition  of  the  Archet^^al  Fonn  which  is  the 
basis  of  a  natural,  scientific,  true  classification.  Precisely 
because  Cuvier  was  dominated  by  the  Idea  of  a  Vertebra, 
he  was  able  to  group  Fish  and  Reptile  and  Bird  and  Mam- 
mal into  one  class — the  Vertebrate.  Without  Archet}^al 
Forms,  men  might  have  known  heterogeneous  rnidta,  but 
not  homogeneous  multum.  With  Archetypal  Forms,  men, 
not  knowing  multa,  yet  may  know  multum.  For  Arche- 
typal Forms  assort  and  label  classes ;  and  classes  may 
comprise  countless  individuals.  The  Final  Cause  of 
Archetjqjcs,  then,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  is  to  make 
possible  for  him  classification,  generalization,  induction, 
science :  a  knowledge  of  generals,  ever  growing  more 
and  more  inclusive.  ArchetjiDes,  therefore,  are  them- 
selves telic.  They  are  for  man's  help,  and  so,  through 
man's  help,  for  God's  glory. 

In  treating  our  Thesis,  I  have  had 
Variations    from  ^^^ed  occasion  to  alludc  to  the  fact 

ArcriL'tvncs  Xclic. 

that  departures  from  Archetypal  Forms 
are  telic  :  that  is  to  say,  with  view  to  special  exigencies. 
In  fact,  the  subject  of  this  Lecture  is  Archet^-pal  Forms 
and  Telic  Figurations.  Let  me,  then,  briefly  discuss  the 
doctrine  of  Telic  Adjustments.  In  doing  this,  let  me 
draw  my  first  illustration  from  the  Vegetable  AVorld.  Let 
us  start  with  a  plant  at  its  germination.  The  first  thing 
which  the  embryo  needs  is  nourishment.  This  is  provided 
in  the  cotyledons  or  seed-leaves,  which  inclose  the  embryo, 


334  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

and  which  usually  form  the  chief  bulk  of  the  seed,  as  in 
the  pea,  almond,  acorn,  etc.  The  leaf-figure  of  these  co- 
tyledons is  often  very  marked  :  e.  g.,  the  bean.  In  fact, 
we  call  them  seed-leaves.  Thus  the  cotyledon  is  the  Ar- 
chetypal Leaf  modified  for  puq^oses  of  embryonic  nour- 
ishment :  it  has  become  a  nursing  leaf.  But  now  our  plant 
is  above-ground.  Yet  it  still  needs  nourishment,  though 
of  a  different  kind  and  on  a  larger  scale ;  it  needs  air, 
light,  warmth,  moisture,  etc.  And  for  these  purposes  the 
stem-leaves,  or  leaves  in  the  common  use  of  the  term,  are 
a  perfect  contrivance.  Observe  how  their  arrangement 
follows  the  law  of  the  Spiral :  an  arrangement  which 
allows  the  largest  exposure  of  leaf -surface :  e.  g.,  the  fa- 
mous Washington  Elm  at  Cambridge,  averaging  an  annual 
production  of  T00,000,000  leaves,  exposes,  as  a  result  of 
the  Spiral  arrangement,  200,000  square  feet,  or  about  five 
acres,  of  foliage.  Thus  aerial  leaves  are  deviations  from  the 
Archetypal  Leaf  for  purposes  of  nourishment  by  exposure 
to  air,  light,  and  wet.  But  our  growing  plant  must  not  be 
selfish,  living  for  itself  alone  :  it  must  provide  for  succes- 
sors— it  must  be  parental.  Obsen^e  how  this  is  effected. 
Contract  the  distance  between  the  leaves  as  spirally  ar- 
ranged along  the  stem,  by  shortening  their  common  axis, 
and  you  bring  these  leaves  together  into  substantially  the 
same  plane,  so  that  they  appear  as  a  series  of  concentric 
rings  or  whorls  :  that  is  to  say — a  flower.  And  the  flower 
is  the  reproductive  apparatus.  Yet  its  various  parts  are 
but  modifications  of  the  Archetj^al  Leaf.  Even  an  un- 
professional calls  sepals  and  petals  flower-leaves.  Tims 
floral  leaves  are  variations  of  the  Archet;^'pal  Leaf  for  pur- 
poses of  reproduction.  And  so  every  part  of  a  plant, 
bark,  bract,  tendril,  spine,  pitcher,  fly-trap,  scale,  etc.,  is  a 
modification  of  the  Archetypal  Leaf  for  some  specific  end, 


APPENDIX,  325 

e.  g.,  nourishment,  protection,  climbing,  etc.  Again  :  Let 
me  illustrate  from  Vertebrate  Anatomy.  The  Archetype, 
or  Fundamental  Form,  is  the  Vertebra.  This  Fundamen- 
tal Form  may  be  modified  for  a  thousand  different  and 
special  ends,  e.  g.,  for  purposes  of  swimming,  creeping, 
burrowing,  climbing,  walking,  flying,  grasping,  support- 
ing, hearing,  masticating,  etc.,  etc.  It  was  this  fact  of  telic 
modification,  or  adjustment  to  specific  ends,  which  fur- 
nished Cuvier  with  that  master  principle  by  which  he  was 
enabled  to  reconstruct  in  such  large  and  wonderful  meas- 
ure the  Pre-Adamite  world.  A  fossil  bone  was  brought 
before  him  ;  he  observed  its  shape  and  processes  ;  he  asked 
what  these  things  meant ;  the  answer  was  the  reconstructed 
animal.  In  brief :  the  doctrine  of  Final  Causes  was  the 
key  to  his  magnificent  success.  And  here  it  was  that  he 
came  into  collision  with  St.-Hilaire.  M.  Soret,  in  his 
"  Supplement  to  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe," 
tells  a  story  quite  in  point : 

'■'■Monday,  August  1,  1830. — The  news  of  the  Revolution  of  July 
reached  Weimar  to-day,  and  set  every  one  in  commotion.  I  went  in 
the  course  of  the  afternoon  to  Goethe.  '  Now,'  exclaimed  he,  as  I 
entered,  '  what  do  you  think  of  this  great  event  ?  The  volcano  has 
come  to  an  eruption  :  everything  is  in  flames  !  '  'A  frightful  story,' 
I  answered  ;  '  but  what  could  be  expected  otherwise  under  such  no- 
toriously bad  circumstances,  and  with  such  a  ministry,  than  that  the 
whole  would  end  in  the  expulsion  of  the  royal  family  V  '  We  do  not 
appear  to  understand  each  other,  my  good  friend,'  said  Goethe :  '  I 
am  not  speaking  of  those  people,  but  of  something  quite  different ;  I 
am  speaking  of  the  contest,  so  important  for  Science,  between  Cuvier 
and  Geoffroy  St.-Hilaire,  which  has  come  to  an  open  rupture  in  the 
Academy.'  " ' 

No  wonder  that  Eckerraann  was  astonished ;  yet  he 
ought  not  to  have  been.     The  battle  between  St.-Hilaire 

1  Lewes's  "  Life  of  Goothe,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  442,  443. 


326  STUDIES   IN   THE   CREATIVE   WEEK. 

and  Cuvier  was  a  battle  of  Ideas  ;  and  Ideas  are  the  most 
real  of  things.  St.-Hilaire  championed  the  Doctrine  of 
Analogies,  or  Unity  of  Plan  in  Nature  :  Cuvier  championed 
the  Doctrine  of  Final  Causes,  or  Purpose  in  Nature.  St.- 
Hilaire  said  :  "  I  take  care  not  to  ascribe  to  God  any  in- 
tention :  I  observe  facts  merely,  and  go  no  further  :  I  am 
content  to  be  the  historian  of  what  is."  Cuvier  said : 
"  Whatever  exists  has  a  purpose  assigned  it :  every  bone, 
joint,  process,  has  a  meaning.  I  nmst  not  only  observe 
what  is — I  must  also  ask  what  the  is  is  ybr."  Thus  ask- 
ing, that  imperial  Genius  succeeded  in  re-creating,  in  large 
measure,  out  of  torsos  and  fossil  bones,  the  pre-Adamite 
animal  world. 

„  While,  therefore,  the  Theorv  of  Ar- 

Summary.  i    V,  -,  -,  V.i        . 

chetypal    lorms  demands  a   Plannmg 

Creator,  the  Theory  of  Telic  Figurations  demands  a 
Planning  Adjuster.  What  Mr.  Darwin  calls  Natural  Se- 
lection, I  would  call  God's  Telic  Adjustment,  coniiguring 
the  Archetypal  Form  to  a  special  need.  It  is  not,  as  the 
evolutionists  hold,  that  the  pickerel  was  transformed  by 
vertebral  metamoi'phosis  into  the  tortoise,  and  the  tortoise 
into  the  owl,  and  the  owl  into  the  gorilla,  and  the  gorilla 
into  Adam.  It  is  that  pickerel,  tortoise,  owl,  gorilla, 
Adam,  are  modifications  of  the  Archetypal  Yertebra  for 
specific  purposes.  God  as  Creator  conceived  the  Archety- 
pal Form  :  God  as  Arranger — whether  directly,  by  a  pres- 
ent, active  volition,  or  indirectly,  by  natural  laws  of  His 
own  appointing,  it  matters  not — evolves  figurations  indefi- 
nitely various,  adjusting  them  to  necessities  as  occasioned 
by  new  conditions  :  and  this  along  the  ideal  axis  of  the 
Archetypal  Yertebra. 

Reviewing,  then,  the  Creative  Week 
Ti-TTof  Koi  raoc        ^g  ^  g^g^^j^  ^f  Archetypal  Forms,  and 


APPENDIX.  337 

surveying  the  organic  structures  of  to-day  as  a  system  of 
Telic  Figurations,  be  it  ours  to  join  with  the  four  Liv- 
ing Creatures  and  the  four-and-twenty  Elders  of  the  Apo- 
calypse, in  falling  down  before  Him  Who  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  and  worshij^ing  Him  Who  liveth  for  ever  and  ever, 
and  casting  our  crowns  before  the  throne,  saying  :  "  Thou 
art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and  power  ; 
for  Thou  createdst  all  things,  and  by  reason  of  Thy  -will 
they  are,  and  were  created"  (Rev. iv.). 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


raDEX  OF  TOPICS. 


PAGE 

Africa  :  and  Europe  contrasted 10 

Air :  the  symbol  of  Holy  Spirit. . .   52 

Allotropy  :  sheds  light  on  Palingenesis.  289 

Altruism  :  the  true 112 

Altruist :  the  true 112 

Animals:  Creator's  delight  in  making. . .  161 

emergence  of. 157 

fecundity  of 171 

have  "souls" 163 

issue  of  fifth  and  sixth  days 156 

moral  meaning  of 162  sq. 

morphology  of. 317 

perhaps  immortal 166 

succession  of,  a  process 157 

Anno  Domini :  the  phrase  a  testimony 

to  Christ 152 

Anthropology 183, 194 

Anthropomorphism 65 

Antediluvian  patriarchs  :  largely  cotem- 

porary 10 

Aqueous  Vapor  :  weight  of 86 

Archetype  :  definition  of 306 

Archetypes  :  final  cause  of. 823 

variations  from,  telle 823 

Archetypal  Forms  :  the  Creator's  ideas.  306 

Architecture :  three,  basis  of 310 

Arithmetic :  three,  basis  of. 303 

Astrology  :  the  false  and  the  true 148 

Astronomic  difficulties 67, 139 

Authority  :  birth  of. 190 

Axioms,  archetypal  vertebrae  of  man 322 

Bible  :  not  a  scientific  book,  yet  impli- 
cates scientific  truths 91 

twofold  :  nature  and  Scripture 14,  29 

Body :  the  present  and  future 290 

Breath  of  God  :  meaning  of 52 

organizer  of  chaos 51 


PAGE 

Causes :  measured  by  effects 39 

Chaos  :  organized  by  breath  of  God 51 

original  form  of  matter 43 

picture  of 49 

traditions  of. 49 

Charisms  :  the  Spirit's 115 

Charter  :  man's  original 190 

Cherubim  :  significance  of 167 

Christ  and  Church  :  a  unity 238 

Christ :  God  in  articulation 181 

His  mission,  a  restoration  of  Image. .  186 

His  nature  threefold ' 181 

the  Archetypal  man 193 

the  Image  of  God 179 

the  Light  of  the  world 73 

the  Nexus  of  heaven  and  earth 96 

the  Parable  speaker 28 

the  Shadow  of  God 77 

the  true  Adam 25 

the  true  Altruist 112 

the  true  Bread 26 

the  true  Bridegroom 236 

the  true  Language 213 

the  true  Prometheus 73 

the  true  Sabbath 273 

the  true  Sun 152 

Christianity:  the  true  meridian 152 

Church :  Christ's  second  self 239 

Nature's  real  Lord 196 

Parousia  :  the  time  of  her  bridal 241 

the  true  Body 25 

the  true  Bride 236 

the  true  Moon 1.52 

the  true  Pharos 80 

Classification  :  two  methods  of 822 

Coast-lines  :  and  civilization 104 

Correspondence  :  doctrine  of. 24 

Creation  :  a  miracle 43 


33:) 


INDKX   OF    TOPICS. 


PAGE 

Creation :  an  origination,  not  a  formation    88 

a  problem  for  faith 42 

a  question  of  the  times 22 

a  summons  to  worship 45 

dissolution  of 2S2 

final  cause  of 44 

measured  by  weight  rather  than  bulk    33 

not  a  failure 2&9 

the  expectant 174 

the  future  of 2S1 

the  groaning 170 

Creative  Week  :  chief  point  of  modern 

assault 14,  23 

divided  into  twin  triads 138 

moral  meaning  of. 24 

retrospect  of 273 

Crystallography  :  three,  the  basis  of 307 

Dead  Sea  :  why  it  does  not  overflow 87 

Deity :  apprehensible  only  through  med- 
itation   180 

Design  :  shown  in  evaporation 87 

Differentiation  :  essential  to  individuali- 
ty   108 

the  condition  of  life 103 

Dissolution:  not  annihilation 2S8 

suddenness  of 285 

Duty :  birth  of Ill 

Earth :  the  new 2S6 

Eden  :  a  parable  of  the  soul 218 

a  topographical  problem 200 

emergence  of 201 

the  heavenly 220 

Effects:  proportional  to  their  causes...     39 

Egypt :  worship  of  animals  in 166 

Europe  and  Africa  :  contrasted 104 

Evaporation  :  argues  a  designer 87 

jiORsibly  work  of  second  day S6 

Scriptural  representations  of 88 

vastness  of 86 

Evolution  :  does  not  account  for  weight 

of  universe 89 

hypothesis  of. 12.",  160 

Implies  involution 89 

parable  of 133 

"  Ex  nihilo  nihil  fit" 39 

Excelsior:  summons  of  the  sky 98 

Figurations  :  from  forms,  tclic 803 


PAGK 

Firmament :  meaning  of. 86 

Form  and  Figure  :  discriminated 803 

Forests  :  plea  in  behalf  of. 128 

Fourth  Commandment :    in  its  letter, 

Jewish 256 

Franconia  Profile 174 

Fructification  :  parable  of 13j 

Future  Life  :  a  present  inspiration 291 

Genesis  of  Things  :  a  fascinating  prob- 
lem      13 

Geology  :  confirms  Mosaic  record. .  102, 153 

rests  on  story  of  emergent  lands. . . .   102 

Geometry :  three,  the  basis  of 308 

Germination  :  parable  of. 132 

"  God-said :  "  an  anthropomorphism  ...     C5 

of  Moses,  the  Logos  of  John CO 

God:  cannot  contradict  Himself 15,91 

is  light 72 

Goethe :  dying  exclamation  of. 82 

question  of  plagiarism 318 

Golden  age :  the  true 220 

Greatness  does  not  depend  on  bulk 148 

!  Heaven  :  a  locality  as  well  as  a  character  287 

etymology  of 92 

Heavens,  the  new 289 

elementally  identical  with  present ...  2=^7 
phenomenally  diflerent  from  present.  287 

Identity:  consists  in  form,  not  figure  . . .  S^!^ 

Image  of  God  :  defaced,  not  effaced 185 

meaning  of 179 

Imageship  divine:  man^s  discretive  pe- 
culiarity    189 

Imageship  :  meaning  of 1 79 

restored  in  Christ 1S6 

the  basis  of  triumph 196 

the  die  of  race-unity 195 

Immortality :  birth  of 21 4 

Inbreathing,  God's :  meaning  of 1S9 

Incarnation  ;  God's  obscuration  and  rev- 
elation       77 

Indians :  problem  of 2(14 

Individuality :  birth  of. 106 

secret  of  character 109 

sense  of,  a  growth 108 

Individualization  :  purpose  of 117 

Industry :  birth  of 203 

condition  of  civilization 204 


INDEX  OF   TOPICS. 


331 


PAGE 

Inspiration :  not  omniscience 142 

Instinct  and  reason  :  relative  terms 164 

Intermaxillary  bone :  Goethe's  discovery 

of 817 

Karens  :  tradition  of  man's  origrin 1ST 

Labor,  dignity  of:  meaning  of  phrase.. .  206 
Lands  :  distribution  of,  beneficent. ....  103 

emergence  of. 100 

moral  meaning  of  distribution 105 

Language :  birth  of 207 

man's  most  wonderful  faculty 207 

origin  of,  a  fascinating  problem 2i)S 

the  bridge  between  man  and  man. . .  2o9 

tremendous  power  of 209 

weds  thought  and  thought  in  sphere 

of  matter 208 

Latitude  and  longitude :  method  of  cal- 
culating   146 

Leaf:  the  archetypal 324 

Life :  a  duel  of  ego  and  non-ego 117 

begins  chaotically 59 

Guyot's  definition  of. 107 

origin  of 55,  120 

Light :  blessedness  of 68 

essence  of,  unknown 73 

latent  in  character 75 

moral  meaning  of 72 

possibly  intermediate  between  spirit 

and  matter 74 

symbol  of  Church 75 

the  first,  chemical 67 

the  symbol  of  God 72 

Logos  of  John :  the  "  God-said  "  of  Moses    66 
Luminaries:  alternate  day  and  night...  143 

beneficence  of  their  arrangement 149 

emergence  of. 142 

give  notations  of  time 145 

give  notations  of  space 146 

guides  to  Christ 150 

moral  meaning  of. 150 

Man  and  'Woman  :  community  of 228 

diversity  of 231 

essential  unity  of 225 

mutually  essential 233 

Man  :  basis  of  Sabbath 252 

emergence  of 178 

God's  image  in  secondary  reflection..  1S5 


PAGE 

Man :  God's  inbreathing 187 

greater  than  Sabbath 259 

has  in  himself  Forbidden  Tree 217 

his  authority  over  Nature 190 

his  formal  superiority  to  woman 225 

his  incomparable  dignity 194,  806 

his  nature  a  Cooperative  Society 110 

needs  Sabbath  for  religious  nature...  255 

needs  Sabbath  for  secular  nature 2' 2 

not  King,  but  Viceroy 1:2 

not  naturally  immortal 216 

the  image  of  Christ 183 

three,  the  basis  of 803 

Mankind  :    figuration   from   Christ,   the 

Archetypal  Form 103 

meaning  of 196 

Marriage  :  a  Divine  institution 234 

Marriage  -  ceremony  :    should    be    reli- 
gious   285 

Marriage  :  earthly,  a  type  of  heavenly . .  28<5 

indissoluble 235 

takes  precedence  of  every  other  hu- 
man relation 235 

the  a>gis  of  our  homes 235 

Matter  :  not  inherently  evil 286 

original  condition  of 49 

our  training-school  for  eternity 287 

unlikely  to  be  annihilated 283 

Mechanics  :  three,  the  basis  of 810 

Monogamy  :  the  law  of  the  two  Edens. .  240 

Morphology  :  animal 315 

vegetable 312 

Mosaic  Code  :  its  care  for  animals 167 

Mosaic  Record  :  antiquity  of 9 

chief  point  of  modern  assault 14 

grandeur  of 13 

language  of  phenomenal 19 

moral  meaning  of 24 

Moses  not  necessarily  the  author 9 

twofold 176 

Natural  Selection  :  Christianity  reverses 

doctrine  of 117 

Nature  :  a  Bible 14 

and  Scripture  correspondent 24 

knowledge  of,  progressive 16 

Nebular  Hypothesis :    confirms  Mo.saic 

Record 50.  CL  90 

New  Heavens  and  Earth .   266  i>q. 

a  renovation,  not  absolute  creation. . .  283 


332 


INDEX  OF  TOPICS. 


PAGE 

New  Heavens  and  Earth     antedate  the 

present  in  Divine  purpose 291 

elementally  identical  with  present...  287 
identical  with  present  in  form,  differ- 
ent in  figure 806 

phenomenally    different    from    pres- 
ent   2S9 

the  true  Holy  Land 292 

Nouns  :  the  first  words 208 

Ocean  :  primeval,  the  basis  of  Geology . .  102 

Oceans  :  economy  of 103 

Oken  :  question  of  plagiarism 318 

Order  :  birth  of 47 

"  Our  Image  "  (Gen.  i.  2o) :  the  imperial 

plural 184 

Oxygen  :  the  world-builder,  possibly  the 

world-destroyer 285 

Palingenesis 172,  288  sg. 

the  cheer  of  the  Apostolic  Age 296 

the  secret  of  holy  U  ving 298 

the  secret  of  Paul's  career 297 

Paradise  ;  capacity  of,  latent  in  man 218 

Parallelisms  of  Creative  Week 138 

Plants :  emblematic  of  man 130 

emergence  of. 119 

frequent  Scriptural  allusions  to 132 

moral  meaning 130 

Moses's  account  of  pictorial 122 

purpose  of 127 

Poet :  definition  of 170 

Probation:  a  possible  blessing 217 

birth  of 216 

necessary  to  character 217 

Race-Unity  :  imageship  the  die  of 195 

Kainfall :  annual  quantity  of 86 

Keason  and  Instinct ;  relative  terms. ...  164 

lieconstruction  :  the  coming 285 

Regeneration  :  necessity  of 184 

of  Nature 288 

Eesurrection-body :  atomically  identical 
with  present,  but  molecularly  dif- 
ferent    290 

identical  with  present  in  form,  but 

different  in  figure 805 

Resting :  the  Creator's 246 

Rcstilution 172,  220,  285 

Revelation :  relations,  of  lo  Science 14 


PAGE 

Sabbath  :  a  means,  not  an  end 260 

change  of  dayatremendous  revolution  270 

changed  from  seventh  day  to  first. . .  209 

Christ's  doctrine  of 251 

Jewish,  classed  by  Paul  with  ceremo- 
nial observances 258 

legislation,  proper  sphere  of 264 

made  for  man 252 

objections  to  author's  view 267 

question,  how  to  meet 209- 

the   change  of  day  a  testimony  to 

Christ's  resurrection 271 

detent  of  life's  machinery 253 

the  three  great 251 

the  true  method  of  keeping 264 

Satisfaction  :  the  coming 198 

Science  and  Rehgion :  coming  bridal  of.  151 

Science  :  relations  of,  to  Revelation 14 

confirms  coming  Dissolution 282 

ministry  of. 91 

Scripture  and  Nature  correspondent 24 

Scripture:  knowledge  of  progressive. ..  17 

Seven  :  the  Scriptural  number 248 

Seventh  day :  sanctified 250 

Shechinah 74 

"  man  the  true  " 189 

Sky :  ancient  conception  of. 84 

emergence  of 85 

Scriptural  representations  of 84 

suggests  human  aspirations  and  Di- 
vine Perfections 92 

Sleep :  necessity  of 14 

Society :  three,  the  basis  of 810 

Sociology :  two  extremes  of 112 

an  Eden  to  be  tilled 218 

Soul  common  to  animals  and  men 1C4 

Species  :  an  abstract  term 123 

Specialization :  characteristic  of  develop- 
ment    103 

Spirit:  man's  discretive  peculiarity 189 

Spirit  of  God;  meaning  of  phrase 52 

organizer  of  chaos 61 

organizer  of  humanity 60 

Survival  of  the  Fittest :  Christianity  re- 
verses doctrine  of 117 

Third  Day:  providential  character  of. . .  129 

Three  :  an  archetypal  number 808 

Time :  the  great  expositor 18 

Traditions  :  origin  of  prehistoric 10 


INDEX  OF  TOPICS. 


333 


PAGE 

Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil : 

meaning  of 216 

Tree  of  Life :  meaning  of 215 

Trees :  significance  of 214 

Triads  of  Creative  Week 138 

Triumph :  imageship  the  basis  of. 196 

Triumi)hal  entry :  the  true 197 

Trusteeship:  birth  of 205 

Truth :  indefinitely  expansible 91 

Unity  and  unit  discriminated 106,232 

effectiveness  of 109 

of  race,  imageship  the  secret  of 195 

Universe:  a  whispering  gallery 211 

origin  of,  a  fundamental  question 82 

origin  of,  a  legitimate  question  39 

practically  infinite 37 

Vegetable  Morphology 312 

Vertebra:  the  archetypal 320 

Visions :  God's  ancient  method  of  in- 
struction      21 


PAGE 

Weight  of  the  nniverse 85 

the  true  measure  of  matter 84 

Woman  and  Man :  community  of 228 

diversity  of 231 

essential  unity  of 2-.'5 

Woman  :  emergence  of 223 

essential  equality  with  man 22T 

formal  inferiority  to  man 225 

man's  second  self. 228 

Woman's  Rights :  false  views  of. . . .  227,  233 

Woman  Suffrage :  question  of 230 

Woman:  the  story  of,  a  Divine  para- 
ble    222 

Words :  immortality  of 211 

nouns  the  fiist 208 

our  judges 2u9 

revealers  of  character. 212 

the  manes  of  past  centuries 208 

Work :  man's  normal  condition 203 

the  cure  of  pauperism 204 

Worship  of  Light 70 


INDEX   OF   SCEIPTUBES. 


PAGE 

Genesis  i.  1 82 

Genesis  i.  2 4T,  68 

Genesis  i.  3-5 65 

Genesis  1.  6-8 83 

Genesis  i.  9,  10 100 

Genesis  i.  11-13 119 

Genesis  i.  14-19 138 

Genesis  I  20 165 

Genesis  i.  24 165 

Genesis  i.  26,  27 176 

Genesis  i.  26-31 177 

Genesis  i.  28 " 204 

Genesis  ii.  1-3 245 

Genesis  ii.  5-22 178 

Genesis  ii.  7 52.  16.i,  176 

Genesis  ii.  8-20 199 

Genesis  ii.  16,  17 216 

Genesis  ii.  18  25 222 

Genesis  ii.  19,  20 190,  209 

Genesis  iii.  8 52 

Genesis  iii.  19 188 

Genesis  iii.  22-24 216 

Genesis  ix.  6 185 

Genesis  -xiii.  14-17 292 

Exodus  iii.  13-15 216  j 

Exodus  xiv.  21 52 

Exodus  XV.  8 52 

Exodus  XX.  1,  2. 2,57 

Exodus  XX.  8-1 1 250 

Exodus  XX.  12 267 

Exodus  xxiii.  19 167 

Exodus  xxxi.  12-17 257 

Leviticus  xxii.  28 167 


PAr.E 

Job  xxvi.  18 52 

Job  xxxi.  26-28 7o 

Job  xxxii.  8 53 

Job  xxxiii.  4 56,  68 

Job  xxxviii.  19,  20 73 


Job  xxxviii.  81-33. 


94 


Psalm  viii.  5 194 

Psalm  viii.  6-9 191 

Psalm  xvii.  16 198 

Psalm  xix.  1-4 147 

Psalm  x.\iv.  7-10 19T 

Psalm  xxxiii.  6 63 

Psalm  xxxvi.  9 78 

Psalm  xlv 236 

Psalin  xlvii.  11 79 

Psalm  Ixviii.  82-o4 94 

Psalm  xe.  1-4 71 

Psalm  xci.  1 78 

Psalm  xcii.  12-14 136 

Psalm  civ.  1,2 74 

P.salm  civ.  29,  30 63 

Psalm  ex  viii,  9 2r4 

Psalm  cxxvii.  2 224 

Psalm  c.vxxiii.  1 107 

Psalm  cxxxix.  14-16 50 

Psalm  cxxxix.  15,  16 301 

Proverbs  iv.  18 79 

Proverbs  X.  11   210 

Proverbs  xv.  4 210 

Proverbs  xvi.  24 210 

Proverbs  xxv.  11 210 

I'roverbs  xxvi.  18.  19 210 


Deuteronomy  xxii.  6,  7 167    Canticles  ii.  8-13 243 

Deuteronomy  xxv.  4 167  ,  Canticles  iv.  12-16 220 


INDEX    OF  SCraPTURES. 


335 


PAGE 

Isaiah  xi.  6-9 173 

Isaiah  xxxi.  1 254 

Isaiah  xxxv.  1 218 

Isaiah  xl.  5 197 

Isaiah  !i.  3 219 

Isaiah  Iviii.  6,  7 2tU 

Isaiah  Ixii.  4 236 

Isaiah  Lxv.  17 289 

Jeremiah  xxxi.  35 151 

Jeremiah  xxxiii.  20-26 151 

Ezekiel  xx.  12-20 257 

Ezelciel  xxxvii.  1-10 57 

Ezekiel  xU.  7 93 

Hosea  \-i.  6 2C1 

Zeehariah  iv.  6 255 

Malachi  iv  2 69 

Matthew  v.  5 292 

Matthew  vi.  9 96 

Matthew  xii.  1-S 261 

Matthew  xii.  9-14 202 

Matthew  xii.  36,  37 2X3 

Matthew  xii.  34-40 118 

Matthew  xiii.  43 76 

Matthew  xi.x.  3-6 234 

Matthew  xix.  2S 258 

Matthew  xx.  16 134 

Matthew  x.xi.  1-10 197 

Matthew  xxi  33-43 193 

Matthew  xxii.  29 291 

Matthew  xxv.  1-10 240 

Matthew  .xxv.  10-12 243 

Matthew  xxv.  14-30 '.   193 

Matthew  xxvi.  73 214 

Mark  ii.  27,  23 252 

Mark  iv.  26-29 -^7.  62 

Mark  vii.  32-35 212 

Luke  i.  35 181 

Luke  iii.  3S 195 

Luke  vi.  44    127 

Luke  viii.  54,  55 53 

Luke  X.  7 205 

Luke  xi.  2 2T 

Luke  xiii.  10-17 262 

Luke  xiii.  14 i;6G 


PAGE 

Luke  xiv.  1-6 262 

Luke  X.X.  9-16 193 

Johnl.l 66 

John  i.  9 78 

Johni  51 97 

John  iii.  6,  7 134 

John  iii.  8 53 

John  iv.  35-33 306 

John  V.  1-18 263 

John  V  17 245,  -.51 

John  vi.  32-58 26 

John  vii.  21-24 2G8 

John  X.  16 240 

Johnxiv.  2 116 

John  xiv.  8-10 183 

John  XV.  1-10 135 

John  XV.  5 240 

John  xviii.  37 183 

John  xix.  30 53,  247 

John  XX.  22 53 

Acts  il.  2^ 53 

Acts  iii.  21 1S6,  220 

Acts  xxii.  11 77 

Romans  v.  12-21 221 

Romans  viii.  19-23 169 

Romans  viii.  21 76 

Romans  viii.  29 187 

Romans  xi.  l€-24 135 

Romans  xii.  2 304 

Romans  xii.  4,  5 240 

Romans  .xii.  6-8 116 

Romans  xiv.  4 255 

Romans  xiv.  5 258 

Romans  xiv.  13 266 

1  Corinthians  vl.  3 806 

1  Corinthians  vi.  12 266 

1  Corinthians  vi.  19 1«9 

1  Corinthians  xi.  8,  9 225 

1  Corinthians  xi.  11, 12 233 

1  Corintliians  xii   4-11 115 

1  Corinthians  xii.  12-27 25 

1  Corinthians  xii.  14-26 114 

1  Corinthians  xiii.  9-11 239 

1  Corinthians  xiii  13 219 

1  Corinthians  xiv 209 

1  Corinthians  .XV.  37-12 2t)0 

1  Corinthians  xv.  45 25 


336 


INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURES. 


PAGE 

2  Corinthians  iil.  18 198 

2  Corinthians  iv.  6 78 

2  Corinthians  v.  1-4 286 

2  Corinthians  xi.  2,  3 236,  239 

Galatians  lii.  28; 229 

Galatians  iv.  1-7 267 

Galatians  v.  22,  23 136 

Galatians  vl.  7 184 

Ephesians  11.  20-22 240 

Epheslans  iv.  13 289 

Ephesians  iv.  22-24 187 

Kphesians  iv.  25 112 

Ephesians  v.  25-43 25,  237 

Philippians  11.  5-8 305 

Philippians  ill.  21 76 

Philippians  iil.  21 805 

Colossians  1.  15 194 

Colossians  i.  16, 17 67 

Colossians  il.  9 182 

Colossians  li.  9,  10 CI 

Colossians  il.  16,  17 25?,  267 

Colossians  ill.  9,  10 187 

1  Thessalonians  v.  1-5 285 

2  Thessalonians  11.  8 53 

2  Thessalonians  ill.  10 205 

1  Timothy  li.  18 226 

1  Timothy  V.  18 167  I 


I  PAOX 

I  1  Timothy  vl.  15 77 

I  1  Timothy  vl.  16 216 

I  Hebrews  1.8 77 

I  Hebrews  Iv 261 

Hebrews  xi.  3 41 

Hebrews  xl.  3 322 

'  James  lii.  2-10 210 

I  James  Hi.  9 186 

1  Peter  11.  13 113 

2  Peter  1.  5-7 136 

2  Peter  ill.  3-7 282 

I  2  Peter  lii.  5 102 

2  Peter  li'.  10-13 273,  805 

i 

1  1  John  1.  6 73 

I  1  John  lii.  2 76 

I  1  John  Hi.  3 298 

jl  John  lii.  4 217 

i  Revelation  1.  6 197 

Revelation  Hi.  14 194 

Revelation  lU.  20 242 

j  Revelation  iv 827 

Revelation  iv.  8  175 

Revelation  xll.  16 196 

Revelation  xv.  28 298 

Revelation  xix.  6-9 241 

Revelation  xxl.  1 289 

Revelation  xxl.  23 82 

Revelation  xxii.  6 144 


raDEX   OF  AUTHOES. 


Adams,  Mrs. :  Aspiration 9S 

Agassiz:  Divine  Premeditation 125 

Immortality  of  Animals 168 

Aristotle :  Archetypal  Forms 822 

Augustine :  Ori^n  of  Church 238 

Origin  of  Universe 44 

Scripture  inexhaustible 28 


Bacon  :  Archetypal  Forms 322 

Athiism 44 

The  Writer's  Prayer (see  Preface) 

Berkeley,  Bishop  :  Course  of  Empire...  200 

Bernard  of  Cluny  :  The  Celestial  Country  293  I  Keble :  "  Two  Worlds  are  Ours  " 


PACE 

Faber :  Groans  of  Creation 170 

Galen  :  His  Life  a  Ilymn 81 

Goethe:  Theory  of  Plants 813 

Guyot :  Physical  Geography 105 

Definition  of  Life 107 

Helwysse :  Eelipious  Liberty 255 

Herbert :  Dignity  of  Toil '. .  208 


Jesus,  Son  of  Sirach :  All  Things  double    28 


29 


Bonar  :  Song  of  the  Bride 242 

Bowring,  Sir  J.:  Star  of  Bethlehem. . . .  154 
Browne,  Sir  Thomas  :  His  Source  of  Di- 
vinity       14 

Bulwer :  Woman's  Royalty 228 

Butler,  Bishop  :  Knowledge  of  Scripture 

progressive 17 

Cariyle :  The  Tree  Igdrasil 214 

Chrysostom  :  The  True  Shechinah 189 

Coleridge :  Man's  Culmination Ill 

Plea  for  Animals  163 

(Copernicus  :  His  Epitaph 81 

Co^vper  :  Plea  for  Animals 168 

Cutting :  Poem  on  Science 126 

Dana:    Basement   Laws   true    for   all 

Worlds 310 

Draper :  Beneficence  of  Sabbath 252 

Dry-den :  St.  Cecilia's  Day 811 

Dscheladeddin  :  Aspiration 93 

Eckermann :  Citation  from  Diary 825 

Emerson :  Concords  of  Space  and  Time.  149 

15 


Kepler :    Conclusion  of  "  Harmony  of 
Worlds  " 31 

Lewes :  Question  of  Plagiarism 318 

Unity  of  Nature 81T 

Linnseus :  Theory  of  Plaits 812 

Longfellow :  Immortality  of  Words 212 

Lesson  of  Flowers 13T 

Substance  and  Shadow 29 

Longinus :  (Genesis  i.  3) 67 

Macaulay :  Tribute  to  Sabbath 253 

Milton :  Apostrophe  to  Light 74 

Chaos 49 

Nature  a  Phonograph 211 

Prayer  for  Parousia 175 

Rest  for  Solitude 255 

Spirit  of  God 59 

Newcomb :  The  Coming  Dissolution 284 

Ovid:  Chaos 60 

Plato :  Archetypal  Forms 822 

Plotinus:  His  Thanksgiving 286 


338 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 


PAGE 

Scott,  Sir  W. :  Shechinah 74 

Shakespeare ;  Castigating  Rascals 227 

Extent  of  Ignorance 166 

Growth  of  Soul 133 

Hamlet's  Sky 97 

Harmony  of  Worlds 153 

Ministry  of  Sleep 144 

Plea  for  the  Jew 165 

Ridiculousness  of  Tj-ranny 226 

The  Coming  Dissolution 284 

The  Witnessing  Forest 213 

Shelley :  Skylark 93 

Smith.  Horace :  Ministry  of  Flowers 129 

Spenser :  Archetypal  Forms 307 

Tennyson  :  Birth  of  Individuality 108 

Birth  of  Time 72 


PAGE 

Tennyson: "  Flower  in  the  crannied  wall"  131 

Future  of  Creation 171 

Glory  of  Distance Ill 

God  our  Light 153 

Growth  of  Light 79 

Peace  of  Golden  Year 80 

The  Bolted  Door 243 

The  Perfect  Pair 233 

Vision  of  the  Future 192 

Tyndall :  Origin  of  Universe 42 

Vaughan  :  Blessedness  of  Sabbath 256 

Virgil :  "  Felix  qui  potiiit,"  etc 13 

Watts :  The  Blessed  Hope 296 

Wolff:  Theory  of  Plants 812 

Wordsworth :  Origin  of  Soul 194 


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sap.  If  we  look  long  and  earnestly  enough,  we  shall  find  in  them  the  ex- 
planation and  solution  not  only  of  our  religious,  but  even  of  our  politi- 
cal and  social  problems.  All  that  is  herein  said  is  rested  upon  the  truth 
that  in  Christ  was  Life,  and  that  this  Life,  in  the  thoughts  and  acts  which 
flowed  from  it,  was,  and  is,  and  always  will  be,  the  light  of  the  race 
of  man. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  New  York. 


COWLES'S  NOTES  ON  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 


I.    THE  MI  NOB  FBOPHETt^'. 

1  vol.,  12ino.    $2.00. 


II.    EZEKIEL   AND   DANIEL, 

1  vol.,  12mo.     $2.25. 


III.    ISAIAH. 

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IV.    PROVERBS,  ECCLESIASTES,  AND 
THE  SONG   OF  SOLOMON. 

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V.    NOTES   ON  JEREMIAH. 

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By   Rev.    HENRY    COWLES,    D.  D. 

From  The  Christian  Intelligencer,  N.  Y. 
"These  works  are  designed  for  both  pastor  and  people.  They  embody  the  re- 
sults of  much  research,  and  elucidate  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  with  admirable 
force  and  simplicity.  The  learned  professor,  haviufr  devoted  manv  years  to  the 
close  and  devout  study  of  the  Bible,  seems  to  have  become  thorouphlv  furnished 
with  all  needful  materials  to  produce  a  useful  and  trustworthy  commentary." 

From  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  Yale  College. 
"There  is,  within  ray  Knowledge,  no  other  work  on  the  same  portions  of  the 
Bible,  combining  so  much  of  the  results  of  accurate  scholarship  with  so  much 
common-sense  and  so  much  of  a  practical  and  devotional  spirit." 

From  Rev.  Br.  8.  Wolcott.  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
"The  author,  who  ranks  as  a  scholar  with  the  most  eminent  graduates  of  Yale 
College,  has  devoted  years  to  the  studv  of  the  Sacred  Scriptores  in  the  original 
tongues,  and  the  fruits  of  careful  and  independent  research  appear  in  this  work. 
With  sound  scholarship  the  writer  combines  the  unction  of  deep  religious  expe- 
rience, and  earnest  love  of  the  truth,  with  a  remarkable  freedom  from  all  fanciful 
speculation,  a  candid  judgment,  and  the  faculty  of  expressing  his  thoughts  cleariy 
and  forcibly." 

From  President  E.  B.  Fairfield,  of  Hillsdale  College. 
"I  am  very  much  pleased  with  your  Commentary.  It  meets  a  want  which 
has  long  been  felt.  For  various  reasons,  the  writings  of  the  prophets  have  con- 
stituted a  sealed  book  to  a  large  part  of  the  ministry  as  well  as  most  of  the  com- 
mon people.  They  are  not  sufficiently  understood  to  make  them  appreciated. 
Your  brief  notes  relieve  them  of  all  their  want  of  interest  to  common  readers- 
I  think  you  have  said  just  enough." 


COWLES'  NOTES— Continued. 


ri,     THE  llEVELATION  OF  JOHN. 

1  Vol.,  12mo.    81.50. 
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much  judicious  commeul  ou  the  Apocalypse  wilhm  so  brief  a  space.  — 
Bihliotheca  Sacra. 


VII.     THE  PSALMS. 

1  Vol.,  ]2mo.    $2.25. 
"  The  sweet  singers  of  Israel  have  found  in  Dr.  Cowles  as  congenial 
and  fit  a  commentator  as  ever  in  any  language  or  country  unUcrtoot 
that  useful  iiei\i(^ti."—C'ongrcfjationalist. 


nil,     THE  PENTATEUCH. 

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IX.    HEBREW  HISTORY. 

(From  Joshua  to  Esther  Inclusive.) 

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"  Another  welcome  volume  from  an  author  who  has  done  more  than 
any  man  of  hi.s  generation  to  attract  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Oia 
Testament.  A  book  of  absorbing  and  often  of  fascniating  nitercst.  Dr. 
C  is  d.'stined  to  be  read  for  many  generations  to  come.  —Intenur. 


X.  THE  GOSPEL  AND  EPISTLES  OF  JOHN. 

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commentaries;  they  are  so  concise,  judicious,  and  spiritual.  —J\a$nviue 
Christian  Advocate. 


XI.     THE  BOOK  OF  JOB. 

1  Vol.,  12mo.    81.50. 
This  volume  (1878)  completes  the  Old  Testament. 


D.  Appleton  &  Co.'s  New  Publications. 


THE 

BIBLE  READERS'   COMMENTARY, 

THE   NEW   TESTAMENT, 

In  Two  Volumes. 

Vol.  I.    The  Foukfold  Gospel  : 

A  Consolidation  of  the  Four  Gospels  in  one  Chronological  Narrative ;  with  the 

text  arranged  in  sections;  with  brief  Readings  and  complete  Annotations, 

Belected  from  "  The  Choice  and  Best  Observations"  of  more  than  two 

hundred  eminent  Christian  thinkers  of  the  past  and  present. 

With  Illnstratiom,  Maps,  and  Diagrams. 

Prepared  by  J.  GLKNTWORTH    BUTLER,  D.  D. 

[nearly  ready.] 


HOMILETICAL   INDEX: 

A  Hand-Book  of  Texts,  Themes,  and  Authors,  for  the  Use  of  Preachers 
and  Bible  Scholars  generally. 

Embbacikg  Twenty  Thousand  Citations  of  Scripture  Texts,  and 

OF  Discourses  founded  thereon,  under  a  Twofold 

Arrangement : 

1.  Textual.  II.  Topical. 

In  which  all  the  Principal  Texts  of         In  which  Bible  Themes,  with  refer- 

Scripture,  together  with   the    various    cncetoTextsand  Authors,  are  classified 

Themes  they  have  suggested,  are  quoted    and  arranged  in  Alphabetical   Order, 

and  set  forth  in  the  order  of  the  Sacred     forming  at  once  a  Key  to  Homiletical 

Canon,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  ;  to     Literature  in  general,  and  a  complete 

which  is  ad<ied  a  list  of  Passages  cited    Topical  Index  of  the  Scriptures  on  a 

from  the  Old  Testament  in  the  New.         New  Plan.    With  valuable  AppendiccB. 

By  J.  H.  PETTINGELL,  A.M. 

Wi'-h  an  Introduction  by  GEOliGE  E.  DA  F,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical 

Theology,  Yale  College. 

1  vol.,  8vo $3.00. 

The  rioMrLETicAL  Index  is  undenominational,  citing  and  referring  to  the  pub- 
lislied  discourses  and  writings  of  the  best  preachers  and  commentators  of  all  agcB 
and  of  every  name. 

It  is  a  work  of  great  research,  unique  in  its  character,  and  so  admirably  ar- 
ranged as  to  bring  within  the  compass  of  320  octavo  pages  the  cream  of  hundred* 
of  volumes,  and  to  transform  every  Biblical  scholar's  library,  and  our  larger  pub* 
lie  libraries,  into  one  complete  Ilomiletical  Commentary,  that  can  be  easily  han- 
dled, while  it  refers  him,  at  once,  to  what  any  one  of  sdmo  thousands  of  leading 
divines  has  said  or  written  upon  any  particular  passage  of  Scripture. 

Its  object  and  i)lan  are  very  heartily  commended  by  many  of  our  representa- 
tive men  of  different  denomiuati<ms  who  have  had  the  opportunity  of  inspecting, 
in  advance,  specimen  pages.  Four  Appendices,  containing  much  valuable  mat- 
ter, have  since  been  ailded,  atid  it  is  believed  that  the  whole  volume,  now  com- 
plete, will  fully  justify  the;r  favorable  anticipation. 

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Edward  Metrick  Goulburn,  D.  D.  Fourth  American  Edition, 
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lished in  1871,  and  completes  his  undertalting  to  produce  a  treatise  for  students  on  this 
extensive  and  complex  branch  of  anatomical  inquiry.  Professor  Iluxlej^'s  plan  is  some- 
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dependent cultivators  of  geological  science.  This  manifest  gap  has  now  been  filled  by 
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